This Friday a bus stationed outside the Voting Rights Museum leaves for Washington, D.C. At 6 p.m. its doors will close and its wheels point north as it rolls toward the 40th anniversary march of the March on Washington.

It is fitting that Selmians should be among those marching in remembrance of a struggle that in some ways continues to this day.

The 1963 March on Washington was where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his &uot;I Have a Dream&uot; speech &045;&045; a speech march organizers hope will create the next generation.

And a bus driving from Selma to Washington will be just one piece of that generation.

Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Marvin Wiggins plans on being on that bus to take part in the anniversary march. &uot;Back then it was about changing the laws,&uot; Wiggins said. &uot;Now we have to change hearts.&uot;

We believe hearts will be changed and are already on their way to change.

Changes can already be seen right here in Selma. The city has its first black mayor, a new office dedicated to the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and both the Voting Rights Museum and Slavery and Civil War Museum in addition to the vast number of sites relating to the civil rights movement.

And changes aren’t limited to Selma, but to the nation as a whole. That bus leaving from the Voting Rights Museum won’t be the only one traveling toward Washington on Friday. Across the country buses will converge on our nation’s capital just as marchers did 40 years ago. Both groups &045;&045; then and now &045;&045; have the same purpose at heart.

Jobs, justice and peace.