Selma - Here We Come 50 Years Later

We all know that we can't go back in history. We can't go back to those days when we were younger, healthier, perhaps a bit less cautious and probably a little crazier and of course prettier or handsome. On the other hand that's what makes the human mind so wonderful and exciting. It does allow us to take those trips back in time when things were different for better or for worse. But here I am getting ready for the real trip. My actual trip back to Selma, Al. to celebrate and memorialize those few brief days 50 years ago when I along with hundreds and then thousands of people went to assist and help protect the citizens of Selma as they fought in the streets for their right to vote.

The thought was that if the federal courts and the federal government wouldn't protect these citizens, perhaps the presence of people from the north would. How sad it is that Martin Luther King, Jr. and his colleagues had to depend on the fact that the sight of Whites and clergy from the north being beaten would be less tolerable than the beatings of Blacks in Selma. But so it was....and that was an important strategy at the time.

Personally I dislike travel. The thought of it sometimes gets my stomach in knots and as the days get closer, the knots get bigger and more uncomfortable. It's the planning and the preparation, making sure nothing's forgotten and nothing goes wrong that cause the anxiety, really nothing more. Especially this winter. The temperatures, the thaw, the freeze, the house prep, all of it becomes a  chore and a half. Then there's the poor old Beagle who has to be left at the kennel, probably for the last time because she's going down hill pretty fast. Having to figure out plane tickets, meet up times, cars and all the rest take a toll on nerves that are already a bit frayed from years of impatience and pressure. That's the downside and I guess if that's all there is, it's really pretty good.

So the prep is about finished and now its time to get a good night's sleep and catch a jet tomorrow, meet my youngest son in Atlanta and drive to Montgomery, Al. As I said at the beginning, we can't go back in time but we can and sometimes should go back physically to memorialize both the good and the bad about Selma and the rest of our country.

The Department of Justice released its report on Ferguson, Mo. today and it's telling. The institutional racism that's identified is backed up by factual data. Anyone asking why Selma should be remembered should read the report. We should also all think really hard about the attacks on voting rights that are occurring in many states around the country. Remember Iraq? Remember the people in Iraq voting for the first time and how proud people were? Remember their voter id? It was a purple thumb dipped in ink. Iraqis showed up at the State of the Union that year holding up their purple thumbs and all of Congress applauded. How times change.

Many elected officials will show up in Selma on Saturday and Sunday celebrating and experiencing the anniversary. I hope they get it. I hope we all get it. Voting is a right. Voting needs to be encouraged, not discouraged. We need to make it easier, not harder.

And here's a story from the Chronicle-Express in Penn Yan, NY about my trips old and new. Click Here