There is no shortage of evidence, whether in the news or in the voices of the people, that there are plenty of struggles wreaking havoc on Selma – the discord at City Hall, the layoffs that continue to leave people in financial limbo, the declining population and school enrollment numbers, crime and poverty – but, likewise, there is no shortage of evidence that the people’s resilience and optimism are finding new avenues of triumph each and every day.

Last week, with the peaks of the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge ominously in view, Selma’s newly elected state senator, Malika Sanders-Fortier, called on the community to rally behind the efforts of Gospel Tabernacle’s Pastor John Grayson, who is working tirelessly to provide toys for children and relief for their parents during what is surely one of the most difficult times they’ve experienced in recent memory.

At Councilwoman Angela Benjamin’s “State of the Ward” address, community members celebrated their neighbors and neighborhoods, putting aside the worry for an evening and enjoying one another’s company over a glass of punch and a bowl of hot chili and cornbread while looking ahead to a future they are confident has more happiness than despair in store.

Selma is no stranger to struggle and strife and an iron beacon, traveled over and visited by thousands daily, plunging out of the banks of the Alabama River, ensures that those who call the Queen City home remember not just the struggle but the ultimate victory that it gave way to.

These times are no different – the people of Selma are not defined by their worries but by the grace and diligence with which they overcome those worries in a thousand different ways each day.

Where one person might see a community struggling to survive, another person sees a community rallying around its most needy brothers and sisters and lifting them up; where one person might see a city losing the fight against poverty and crime, another person sees a city waging that fight with perseverance and hopeful commitment.

Certainly, there are a multitude of difficulties plaguing our community that must be addressed if they are to be overcome, but the capacity to address and overcome them is only a matter of time for a community endowed with a people of such high morals, dogged resilience and energetic confidence.

Indeed, there is no such thing to the people of this city as a problem insurmountable. How could there be? From this place and in the hands of these people, equality at the ballot box and in all facets of life was sought after, fought for and won.

This city’s courage has infected me and I believe that, in the hands of this city’s people, Selma can be mended and molded into the city we all wish for it to be.