It's time to rebuild Selma better
The following piece was published in the Selma Times-Journal August 12-13 Weekend Edition. Subscribers can access the piece as it was originally printed in the Times-Journal digital edition.
Conventional wisdom tells us we’re too stuck and divided to make progress on the issues that matter to people, let alone for people with different views to see and hear one another. This can feel especially true in communities with histories of trauma, where disaster after disaster seem to pile up. But there’s good news. People in Selma can overcome differences, ignite engagement, move forward—and create renewed hope.
Let’s be clear. The challenges are real.
Much of the area is struggling, with many people suffering from poverty, racial injustice, and recovery from tornados that ripped through Selma in January. People want and need better educational opportunities, more jobs with higher wages, and healthier lives and communities. Some simply need a reliable roof over their head. For many, Selma’s identity is stuck in the past. It is struggling to build a better future as many simply seek to bounce back to the way things were before the storms.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. So where to start—and how?
Richard C. Harwood, President and Founder of The Harwood Institute, was in Selma for a series of roundtables with scores of community leaders and residents. These conversations provided an opportunity for the community to collectively explore how to catalyze action on issues that matter to people in Selma and to rebuild better.
The Harwood Institute has been helping communities come together to address fault lines and strengthen their civic culture through community-driven change for over 35 years. The Institute’s work has spread to all 50 states and 40 countries. This includes Reading, PA, which ten years ago was declared the poorest community in the U.S., where people have stepped forward to produce and act on a common education agenda amid real differences. In Alamance County, NC, much progress has been made, too, around areas like youth development and wellness, community arts, and leaders and organizations working together in new ways. People in communities all across the U.S. are proving that under the right conditions, real, practical change is possible.
The solutions are right here in this region, too. In fact, they’re already happening.
The tornadoes that devastated parts of Selma earlier this year brought unprecedented challenges to the community. But organizations like the Black Belt Community Foundation are engaging residents, investing in community-driven initiatives, and providing disaster relief, all of which is building a sense of hope and urgency in the Selma community. They are proving that it is possible to rebuild from damage caused by storms—and deep legacies of injustice and trauma—while fostering a greater sense of community than ever before.
But make no mistake. A single person, group, organization, or initiative cannot drive rebuilding and progress alone. To create progress, we must not vilify each other or give in to the ugly politics that roil the country.
Richard C. Harwood is the President and Founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization located in Bethesda, MD.
Lawrence Wofford is the President of the Selma-Dallas County Branch of the NAACP and Former Chairman of the Selma Housing Authority.