Dear editor,

In 2002, I presented a petition to the Selma City School Board with more than 200 signatures requesting that the Selma High gymnasium be named the Booth-Sewell-Maxey gymnasium.

I recently learned the gymnasium would be named the Sewell-Maxey gymnasium and the Booth name would be left off. The late coach James Booth opened doors for African-American coaches at Selma High School. Yes, coach Booth was white, but he was right and fair.

It just wouldn’t be fair to leave coach Booth’s name off. Booth did more for black kids in the 70s that’s being done for black kids now. I grew up listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. not on the television or radio but on my front porch (322-B G.W.C. Homes), and I learned from one of Dr. King’s sermons three small words: “Right is right.”

Bruce L. Holmes Sr.

Selma