I'd never, ever thought I'd see the day...Selma....

[MineralMan]

85. It's a complex set of things I took from it.

I think about them a lot, but can't really explain very well. I wish I could. Even though I've been a writer all my life, I have not been able to put that experience into words so far. I've started several times, and will probably continue to try. It all starts with actually never having had any contact with anyone but other white people at that time. The town I grew up in had zero black residents, and the college I had been attending had very, very few.

I had been following what was going on in the South for some time, and had dropped out of college because becoming an engineer was no longer my goal. I bought an old Chrysler and was trying to decide what to do next. Then, I read what was happening in Selma, and decided to go in that direction. I got there the day before the last march and met some people there, who convinced me that my best action would be to go to Montgomery and meet the marchers there.

One of the strongest memories I have from that trip is of stopping to ask an elderly black man if he needed a lift. I was about 20 miles from Selma. He was walking slowly and haltingly down the road. He looked at me for a long time, and then finally accepted my offer. We drove on, and he said he was going to Selma to march. We talked about many things in the short time he was in my car.

About a mile outside of Selma, he said, "Son, you need to stop here and let me go on my own way." I offered to drive him to where he was going, and he said, "No, son. You're a white boy driving a car from California. You don't understand. You need to let me out here." I did. Later, I understood, when I saw how people looked at me, driving that old Chrysler with California plates on it. He was right.

That was one of the first lessons I learned. I learned many more in the next few days. I was really, really out of context there. So, I joined the crowd and just observed and had conversations with people as I could. Then, I drove on to other places, taking something new along with me.