A Visit to the Southern Poverty Law Center

Since moving to Selma 15 months ago, I have toured a variety of civil rights museums, both in Alabama and in Georgia. Although they have all impacted and challenged me in some way, it was last week's trip to the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery that touched me the greatest. Created by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Memorial provides a simple yet powerful reminder of the importance of recognizing human rights everywhere--and coming together to stand against all forms of intolerance.

Until this past year, I have worked closely with immigrants. I taught in South America for a year and then taught English as a Second Language in the states. I remember the first time I used teaching supplements published by the SPLC, over seven years ago. Ever since then, I've appreciated the work of the SPLC...more than anything, the organization's commitment to bringing justice and equality to the people, empowering the people who have been robbed of their voice. As an ESL teacher, I worked with families who repeatedly faced the realities of living in a new culture--a culture that judged them as inferior and unworthy.

So although I hesitated to give up the opportunity to work with the ESL population, it was also clear that there was a similar calling to fight against injustice here in Selma. I never expected it to be so hard. Never. It's not the long hours or even the comments of the opposition that have been so hard: it's been the shock of seeing the settling mindset of the kids I work with and love so dearly. Something tragic has happened in the black community where I work. As a white outsider, I continue to need God's understanding if I'm to ever help challenge this mindset. It's not so much the racist few that disturb me, but the mindset I see every day in my kids who--subtlety--believe that they are inferior, that their life options are limited, that they are somehow unworthy of something better.

One of the young men who was with us at the Memorial I met last year in the classroom. Right before he started volunteering with the Freedom Foundation, when asked about going to college, he said he was "too black and too poor" and hadn't even considered this option. Wow. Yet now, a year later, he is a completely changed young man who is making straight As his senior year and applying for scholarships for the fall. He has found pride in himself, in his people, and in the work that we are all doing here in Selma. The people of Selma are some of the most precious I've met. They have beautiful, generous hearts and a desire for something more. This is definitely the community where I belong.

The Memorial has helped build a bridge for me that connects the past with the present. It has provided a vision and a background that will help me go back into that classroom and love and understand my kids on a deeper level.