Wednesday was a tough morning for roughly two dozen Selma residents.

There’s a lot of truth that if your day starts off with a bad morning, then the rest of the day isn’t going to be much better.

For these 22 individuals, their day ended up in jail, so that saying must be true.

When a law enforcement group — made up of a number of agencies, including the Selma Police Department — made simultaneous raids on locations throughout Selma, arresting suspects with federal warrants, they did this city a service that should not go to waste.

These individuals are alleged to have been connected to drug networks that stretched as far as Birmingham, Mobile and on.

They are alleged to have distributed drugs in Selma and other locations. If these charges are proved true, they deserve to do all of the time in jail they are sentenced.

And while law enforcement did their job Wednesday, it is now our turn. We now have a job to do.

We cannot let the next drug dealer want-to-be step in the void left by these arrests.

Instead of the next criminal stepping up, this community should step up and fill the void.

We have an opportunity here to take what law enforcement has provided and turn it into something extremely positive by further crippling these drug networks.

We need to work to educate our children, our neighbors that these individuals did not have their best intentions in mind when they sold them crack, cocaine, marijuana or other drugs.

Beginning immediately, we need to show them there is a better way, a better direction.

The men and women who participated in Wednesday’s raids are no doubt heroes. Now it is our turn to be heroes and change our communities for the better, for the long haul.