To the Editor:

It is heartbreaking

that the “Battle of Selma” re-enactment will be cancelled this year.

It is a pitiful shame that a city so filled with Civil War history has to be deprived of about the only remaining reminder of our Confederate leaders. People of Selma no longer fly their Confederate flags on their own property, even during April, which is supposed to be Confederate Month. After all, there is more history than just Civil Rights and March to Montgomery. History is history, black and white.

Who makes the decision to just cancel events without notifying the public of these intentions before hand? Maybe something could have been worked out if everyone had been made aware of the pending cancellation. Do you think that we could still salvage the “Ball” since lots of people have already purchased their antebellum attire?

Maybe we could ask the city of Greenville to host our “Battle of Selma.” They seem to spend their monies for city building efforts instead of big salaries for city employees. I notice that the mayor of Greenville just received a long deserved raise. I believe I read that he now makes $48,000 and he does not have an “executive assistant” at approximately $50,000.

I don’t believe that Greenville pays a city attorney $61,000 either and I am quite sure that they do not pay “Body Guards” to protect their mayor.

Greenville city council members make a meager salary compared to the salaries in Selma, but they have the great satisfaction of seeing Greenville grow every day and in every way and become a very prosperous community.

Perhaps Selma could offer the participants in the Battle of Selma some sort of compensation for gasoline or discount lodging just for the one weekend a year that celebrates “White” history. It would bring in more money than you would lose. Or, just maybe, City Hall could use some of their discretionary funds to help with this event. After all, we have just been through over two months of celebrating the courageous “Black” people in our history, including the renaming of a street that has already been named for decades.

Thank you, Mr. Willis, for having the courage to fly your flag on your property. If it is offensive to anyone, they should just walk away or turn their head. It is an inanimate object and you do not have to look at it if you do not wish to do so. What is more offensive is pants falling down to the knees and showing butts and dirty underwear. What do you do about that?

Those of you who know me, know I am not a racist. Those who do not, it doesn’t really matter. I can see that Selma is just bogging down in one-way movements.

History does not relate to certain races or certain events and you must remember all the past in order to get the future to go right, but you cannot drive forward while looking in your rear-view mirror or you will surely crash into something.

Thanks to The Selma Times-Journal for letting me express my opinion. That’s all it is, just an opinion, but it is also a right.

May God continue to bless all the citizens of our city.

Dorothye Jackson