The Edmundite Mission in Selma, Alabama

In Selma, we went to Edmundite church, Queen of Peace. There we met Brother Peter from London who told about the evolution of the Edmundites in Selma. Afterward, we went to the Interpretive Center of the March on Selma. We watched a powerful video with quotes from real people who really walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge and were assaulted by the police that day. Personally, the video showed me that everyday people can do extraordinary things. We then went to a presentation about Selma’s economic struggles, and honestly, it can be seen as soon as you set foot into the city. The amount of abandoned homes, businesses, and buildings was discouraging and the place can fairly be described as a ghost town. Mr. Joe O’Quinn of the Society of St. Edmund showed how Selma is losing parts of its population every year. People are leaving because of the intense poverty in the town comparable to that of a third world country. He also mentioned the fact that even though legal segregation was abolished, segregation is still a prominent issue in Selma. When presented with the with the idea of doing a food pantry with an all black church from Selma, an all white church from Selma stated, “Those are not our people” and refused to work with the black church. The segregation is also economic. Property taxes stay low because the upper class of Selma send all their children to private schools, and in turn they care less about the public education in Selma. Because of this, they vote for smaller property taxes which deprives the school system of the money to get proper materials for education. By graduation, only 5% of the students can get a 65 or higher on an Algebra I test. When students go to college, many come back to Selma within a week simply because they can complete. It seems to me that no one with real power to improve the situation cares enough to do so. It’s sad to see a historic place such as Selma be in such bad shape.
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