Selma's history helps secure tornado aid, residents focused on today

As Pearlie Miller stood in front of her home in Selma on Friday morning, she wasn't assessing the damage done by the destructive tornado that tore through the city the day prior.

An insurance adjuster had already done that for her — noting that the entire left side of her house was blown in and the wrought iron posts on her porch were barely supporting the roof. After taking a direct hit from the tornado, the building wouldn't be salvageable. She'd have to grab what she could and find somewhere else to stay.

Cold wind whipped around her, and as she looked on at the home she had lived in with her sisters, she wasn't thinking about what was lost. She was thinking about her gratitude for her safety and that of her neighbors.

"It's just God's grace," Miller said. "But Selma is alive."

The devastation in the city stretches for miles in a diagonal path across Selma. Several people sustained injuries, and at least one was serious enough to require transportation to a Birmingham hospital. Hundreds of homes and businesses have shattered windows and roofs in the front yard. Fallen trees and broken power lines hang over streets. At one point, 19,000 people in the area were without power.

Through all of the damage, though, Selma has reported no casualties.

"The tornado came in and divided our city. It was a devastation," Mayor James Perkins said in a news conference on Friday.

Since the storm, the historic city garnered attention from across the country. American Red Cross set up a shelter in the local high school, dozens of congressmen called U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell asking how to help, and plenty of donations of time and cleanup efforts have poured in.

Many people, too, have asked officials about whether any historic value in the city has been lost in the storm. After all, this is the place where Martin Luther King, Jr. led hundreds across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, marching toward Montgomery for Black voting rights. Selma is where King gave many speeches of value, in churches like Brown Chapel. It's where many other civil rights groups were based.

The tornado spared those major historic sites, though it left some exterior damage on historic homes like Sturdivant Hall and Grace Hall.

"The historical nature of Selma, I believe, will put the eyes of the world on our disaster," Rep. Sewell told the Montgomery Advertiser. "Because of the name Selma, it's helped us galvanize resources. I just want to make sure they're being channeled in the proper way."

Along with local and state officials, Sewell has begun getting support from the White House, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Association.

Some residents, though, wonder why the history of their city is being used to leverage help — why the people who lost their homes aren't reason enough for others to care.

"Selma has a thriving history, but we're in the present," Miller said. "Yes, things can be lost, but we have archives where that history is preserved. Now we need to focus on our community, rebuilding and making sure everybody is OK. The historic part should just take a back seat."

Standing in front of her home on Lawrence Street on Friday morning, Miller turned to look at the homes of her across-the-street neighbors. One had a tree resting on top of it.

The woman who lived there, she said, was entirely dependent on the care of others. When the tree fell, crushing her house, the woman was not able to get out. Miller's sisters were able to call for help, and their neighbor was removed from the house unscathed.

"At least everyone around here is safe," Miller said. "We'll just start anew. It doesn't matter where it is as long as it's got family."

R.B. Hudson Middle School history teacher Calvin Marshall was also on Miller's street that Friday morning. Along with a group of his Omega Psi Phi fraternity brothers, he was walking through the neighborhood to help clear the masses of debris.

"We've seen a lot of storms, but this is the worst it's ever been," he said. "A lot of the neighborhoods will be truly messed up here for years."

Marshall plans to volunteer with cleanup for as many days or weeks his community needs him.

As for the history in Selma, he said it's everywhere.

"Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, so many important people were in this community. They lived with these people," he said. "Everything is a landmark in Selma, and if that gets us help, then good."

Those who are concerned about the City of Selma can donate to the city's local disaster relief program on the city website, volunteer with debris cleanup like Marshall or with other disaster relief organizations in their area. The city expects help will be needed for the coming weeks.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at [email protected].