Enlightening

Today we met Joanne Bland, a life long activist, at the Selma Interpretive Center. Selma is much more of what I was expecting when it came to towns and cities in the south. There are no big buildings and the community is very small. Mrs. Bland is very assertive and up front, as well she should be. She took us on a tour of Selma and it’s historical landmarks and inserted her own, interesting opinions on several monuments. I found it really interesting and enlightening that she didn't like when monuments named specific names of people in the movement, claiming that everyone is important and when you name names, someone is always left out. The part of her tour that most stood out to me was when she took us to the cemetery— but before I describe the situation I want you to keep in mind that the Selma community is about 75% black. As soon as we entered the cemetery, I noticed small, confederate flags on a couple of the graves. This alone was alarming because I never see that here in Baltimore, however, as we walked through the graves we came upon a monument surrounded with confederate flags and many graves behind with the same flags. The monument was made in 2000 and is dedicated to General Forrest of the Confederate Army, as well as the creator of the Ku Klux Klan! The graves behind the monument were for unnamed soldiers of the Civil War who supported the Confederate States. On the monument read: This monument stands as testament of our perpetual devotion and respect for Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. I couldn't believe that this statue could have been created in the 21st Century at all, especially in a community of many blacks. Upon listening to Mrs. Bland, I learned that she and the rest of the community had to protest just to get it moved out of the public and into this tucked away corner of the cemetery. I think that this was the most enlightening part of my day here in Selma.

Carolyn Mobley
City College