The spirit of Selma went with us
By Joey Butler, UMNS
Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS. The Revs. Donald E. Messer (right) and Kent Millard narrate some of the history of Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma, Ala.
The Revs. Kent Millard and Don Messer, former Dakotas Conference clergy, were students at Boston University School of Theology in 1965 when the call came from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for seminarians, laity and clergy to join in the march for freedom in Selma. They joined a group of 83 seminary students who traveled by bus to participate in the Selma-to-Montgomery march but it was delayed for several days. Instead, they were part of other marches throughout Selma protesting illegal arrests and demanding voting rights for all.
“We left Selma, but the spirit of Selma went with us,” Messer said. “We were challenged to commit our lives to the continuing work of securing human rights for all people.”
Millard, now retired from the Indiana Conference, showed a photograph of King speaking at Boston University, with himself in the background acting as a bodyguard.
“Dr. King asked me, when I met him at Boston University, ‘Mr. Millard, what are you going to do for civil rights in your lifetime?’ That is the question I continue asking myself.
Messer, former president of Iliff School of Theology, Dakota Wesleyan University and current executive director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS, was coming back to Selma for the first time since 1980. He said that while remembering the violent clashes of 1965 is somber, the atmosphere now has an air of celebration.
“When you sing gospel songs and freedom songs, there is always a spirit of celebration,” he said. “We have a lot to be proud of, as President Obama said, but we do have a long way to go. We have to face up to the reality of the evil of racism in ourselves, our families, our society and our church. It’s an unending struggle and we need to be ever alert and active.”
