| s e l m a |

When I look at myself and reflect, I know that I tend to lean toward the impulsive side. I feel something in my heart and I just jump in feet first and then take the time to figure out the next step, after I’m already fully immersed in it. Throughout my life there have been many “ITS”.  So much that draws my attention in and Selma was definitely one those ITS for me. -a wanderer-

 

When the opportunity presented itself to return to Selma for the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, without hesitation, I was in. I had just been there a few weeks prior with the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire (UWEC) Civil Rights Pilgrimage, documenting the experience for students and it had been such an amazing eye-opening experience.

Traveling with a group from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, we drove 1,070 miles non-stop through the night to make to it Selma for the Friday, March 6, 2015 activities. There were so many things happening at once. A flurry of events and people, wherever you turned.  On a normal day in Selma the population is 19,912, but that weekend there were approximately 70,000 people present to commemorate the Bloody Sunday anniversary. Overwhelmed from crowds, jammed shoulder to shoulder, and the constant knowledge which presented at every event attended, that this city is still fighting many fights. It has taken me awhile to reflect about the trip and how it impacted me.

The events that I attended, talked in-depth about the fight that continues in Selma today, not just about the one of the past.  There are many people, which look at the current situation of Selma with sadness. Longtime civil rights activist and a leader the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, Dr Bernard Lafayette, spoke about creating a sense of community.

I was shocked at learning that Selma is a food desert, where most people are getting their food at the dollar store or the gas station, which means that access to fresh fruits and vegetables is not an easy option. How is it possible that people don’t have access to fresh food if they want it? That baffles me.

On the morning of March 7, 2015, a group of UWEC students all with thousands of others gathered to watch President Obama speak in Selma. Waiting for almost 10 hours, they witnessed their first Presidential speech. The speech was said to offer a more honest history of who we are and can be as a nation.

“For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed.  And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.” –President Obama-

 

The Freedom Foundation, Students UNITE, the Random Acts of Theater Company, community members and others, also marched on the morning Sunday, March 8, 2015, to create awareness on the issue they have about the Edmund Pettus Bridge name. They find name of the bridge disconnected from the direction they want Selma to head in the future, due to the bridge having been named for a KKK leader. The group has set up an online petition to change the name of the bridge, named after Edmund Pettus.

 

The struggles are definitely still apparent and overwhelmingly present in Selma, but there were many positives as well. I’m very proud of the incredible group of people, I went with. People who took their time to go support something which they believe in. That passion is so admirable, and something that I believe will reflect through the changes that they make in the future. They are people who believe that their worth is want they do today and what they will leave behind and for that reason they are committed to being the change. They crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge on March 8, 2015 because they HAVE a dream.

 

– a wanderer