Dear Editor,

The Links, Inc. Selma Chapter, One Selma, Historic Brown Chapel AME Preservation Society, Inc. and Dr. Angela Mangum and The Selma City School System hosted on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, at Selma High Auditorium at 9 a.m. in front of an audience of over 700 teens and guests to a Teen Reenactment: A Life Time Of Voting In A Democracy. We want to thank the Selma/Dallas community for all their support.

We saw a long term need to help a community that only about 58 percent of the citizens vote by telling the story to young teens and asking for a commitment to vote for a lifetime. We told the story of the price paid for the privilege of voting in a democracy by both black and white citizens. We invited all senior teens in Selma/Dallas County. Thank you to the schools invited: Selma High School, Dallas County High, Keith High School, Southside High, Morgan Academy, Meadowview Academy and Ellwood Christian Academy.

The reenactment characters were: President Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Lee Jackson, Jonathan Daniels, Rev. James Reeb, Viola Liuzzo, John Lewis, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Rev. P.H. Lewis, Mrs. Amelia Boynton, Rev. L.L. Anderson, Rev. F.D. Reese, Ms. Annie Lee Cooper, Mrs. Marie Foster, Atty. J.L. Chestnut, President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

A special thanks to all the teens of Selma High School that participated in the reenactment: Willie Gilmer, Alexander Bennett, Keonna Carter, Janisia Church, Jakiah Purdie, Alex Perkins, Bonnie Hasberry, Shalonzia Tubbs, Briana Cleveland, Jalen Johnson and Kaylan Caver.

A special thanks to the ministers of One Selma that participated: Dr. Jerry Light, the Rev. Grayson, the Rev. David Perry, the Rev. Jack Alvey, the Rev. Klimis, Rev. Winston Williams and new comer Brother Peter Stanfield.

Thank you to Mayor Darrio Melton for giving greetings and speaking on the consequences of voting from a personal perspective and to Judge Prince Chestnut and Link Betty Miller for the parts they played in reenacting. Thank you to Mrs. Charlotte Griffeth and all the Links that worked and participated!

Thank you to Ms. Veronica Pitts of Selma High for going beyond the call and being invaluable to the success of the program and to Mr. Colin Lett and the Selma High Choir, the music made the reenactment flow in harmony.  Thank you!
Mrs. Juanda Maxwell

Charlotte Griffeth

The Rev. Jerry Light