To the Editor:

As a concerned citizen, I feel it’s my duty to ask a few questions concerning the state of Selma and it’s politics. I thought Selma was a democracy?

There has not been one time when the Mayor or the Selma City School Board has come forward to ask the citizens of Selma if we need a multi-million dollar school.

After all, we are the ones that will be funding it.

The mayor and his supporters keep forgetting that “we the citizens” make this choice.

Why is it sufficient for the mayor to take solo steps to build a multi-million dollar school? Why does the mayor continue to handle matters secretively and egregiously? Should he be the martyr candidate to get a project like this complete?

How about having some open forums to let the city and its citizens express their concerns and needs?

Why would Mayor Perkins not bring this issue to the city council “before hand?” Is that not the procedure? Sounds like he knows something about the deal that we don’t know.

Why not “build steps” to fund a multi-million dollar school? A prime example is “developing the waterfront” in order to generate revenue and taxes to build a new school if need be.

Instead, we sit by and watch some of the older buildings downtown fall to the ground. Why not invest a little money into bulldozing these facades and use the space to enhance downtown.

Wouldn’t it make sense to access some of these spaces as a mini park with benches and nice greenery, in order to attract the downtown workforce out of their cubicles? You never know, it might just attract people downtown, period.

I think the question we are looking past is why does Selma need this school?

Is it a physical structure problem, an easy fix for the segregated school situation or another political move to stay in office? As a concerned citizen and a product of public schools, we deserve to know these answers.

I think we should have some public forums and not have the city council meetings be the sole place to air concerns.

The Selma public should stand up and demand these leaders that are responsible for the maintenance and life of Selma High School to come forward and offer your answers. It’s so bad; we have our state senator sending his grandchild to a private school in Selma. It’s hypocrisy to the nth degree.

Why do we year after year keep putting these same politicians in office to make choices for “us?” Selma, if you want to get on the right track, demand answers. I think we are so caught up on the “Black and White” status in Selma, we can’t see the forest because of the trees.

This isn’t about black and white; this is about right and wrong.

Greg Brown