Selma Still Segregated

After crossing the iconic “Selma Bridge”(Edmund Pettus bridge) in our large black rented van, I had entered the glorious city of Selma which had “overcome” racial injustice and institutional segregation. I was in the place where Martin Luther King, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Jimmy Bonard Flower, and Barack Obama had once stood. Although “glorious” and “free” from institutional segregation---Jim Crow—the city was undeniably drowsy. The downtown had colonial French-looking buildings that were empty while the nearby residential community had homes that had broken windows and black gunk on the walls. I initially thought some of the homes a little rusty, but as I saw more, it became more clear that the community that I saw outside were impoverished. However, within a minute of driving, the outside view turned from the community that was impoverished into another neighborhood that was polished, with mowed grass, and nice homes. The wealth inequality gap in America was unmistakably visible. On one side of Selma, there were decrepit buildings, mostly black people, and poverty, but on another side of Selma, country clubs, nice houses, and white people. I was shocked by how segregated Selma is even after nearly 50 years after the Civil Right movement.

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