Photo Essay Reporter's Notebook Travel

Selma Today: Still So Much Work Ahead

Selma, Alabama today. (Jessica Elsayed/YJI)
 
SELMA, Alabama, U.S.A. – I just returned from spending an incredible and enlightening week in Selma learning about the American Civil Rights Movement.
Our student-led group from Denison University in Ohio volunteered with the Freedom Foundation.
It serves the Selma community by providing, among other things, a safe, integrated and empowering space for the youth of Selma.
 Our experience, which I found inspiring, included a lot of history and hard and needed conversations on race relations in the United States. 
On this Martin Luther King Day, I hope we all honor King’s message both in spirit and action.
But also, let us remember and honor all those who stood by him, marched behind him and are unmentioned or remain unnamed as they made the movement as we know it possible through mass mobilization.
The movement for civil rights for African Americans in the U.S. did not end with the passing of the Voting Rights Act.
Because there are still mass disparities in resources, opportunities and even the value of life between blacks and whites, the march for real freedom and justice still continues and we should all be on board. 
Jessica Elsayed is an Associate Editor for Youth Journalism International.
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