Weekend Read: In Selma, Alabama, whose heritage?
On each anniversary of Bloody Sunday, people from across the country and the world make a pilgrimage to Selma, Alabama, to listen to civil rights luminaries, walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and recommit themselves to the fight for equal justice.
One place these pilgrims are unlikely to visit is Selma鈥檚 , home to a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate general who lost the Battle of Selma and, after the Civil War, became the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
A group that calls itself 鈥淔riends of Forrest鈥� gained ownership of an acre at the cemetery in 2015, planting Confederate battle flags in a circle around Forrest鈥檚 bust and sprinkling miniature battle flags throughout the cemetery.
The group鈥檚 leader, Pat Godwin, lauded these accomplishments on a website聽that she maintains for the purpose of 鈥淒efending Southern Heritage.鈥�
鈥淲e are very GRATEFUL for ALL our supporters and contributors toward our efforts to defend, protect and preserve our noble Southern history and heritage here in Selma,鈥� wrote Godwin, signing her 2015 post, 鈥淜eepin鈥� the skeer on鈥檈m! DEO VINDICE! Patricia S. Godwin.鈥�
Godwin鈥檚 is a common refrain in the South. But in a place as pivotal to the civil rights movement as Selma, her heritage is not the only 鈥淪outhern heritage.鈥�
This spring, Selma native Tad Bartlett set out to explore a more expansive understanding of the heritage of the South with two friends from New Orleans, Maurice Carlos Ruffin and L. Kasimu Harris. They started their by witnessing the removal of New Orleans鈥� statue of Robert E. Lee, before traveling to Selma for the Fourth of July, a journey documented at The Bitter Southerner .
Along the way, the men meditated on the Confederacy and the complicated project of reconciliation in the historic town, which is grappling with white flight. They met with an array of people, including the mayor and a daughter of refugees from Nazi Germany, as they explored the meaning of Southern heritage in today鈥檚 Selma.
It became evident that Selma is 鈥渁 continuum of the American experience,鈥� Bartlett . The town is the 鈥済ood, the ugly. The frustrations, the hopes. 鈥� A place to reconcile good intentions with old grudges.鈥�
Indeed, the challenges facing Selma aren鈥檛 confined to the city limits of this Alabama town. And it鈥檚 not simply a place to reflect on the sacrifices and victories of the past 鈥� but a place to chart the path to a more just future.
鈥淪elma had its hooks in me,鈥� Ruffin . He added: 鈥淚 liked this little Mayberry. Its problems were American problems. If we could solve Selma, we could solve America.鈥�
We couldn鈥檛 agree more.
The Editors
P.S. Here are some other pieces we think are valuable this week:
- by Karen Korematsu for The Washington Post
- by Cary Aspinwall for The Dallas Morning News
- by Donovan X. Ramsey for The Marshall Project
- by Jessica Fahlsing for BuzzFeed News
人兽性交鈥檚 Weekend Readings are a weekly summary of the most important news reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequality, and hate and extremism. Sign up to receive Weekend Readings every Saturday morning.
