In the past, Selma, the heart of the civil rights movement, received national attention for the wrong reasons: violence, racism and hate.


Last week, Selma resident and activist Ainka Jackson puts Selma back in the spotlight – and highlighting what she predicts will be a brighter, more positive future – to talk with former President Barack Obama about the importance of nonviolence, pluralism and love amid rampant political division.


This year The Obama Foundation’s Annual Democracy Forum Hosted in Chicago, Jackson took part in a panel discussion with Obama and other trailblazers to discuss how we can find common ground in a divided world. Jackson, director of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliationfounded the organization in 2015 to tackle the root causes of violence, a crisis that hits close to home for many Alabamiansby bridging the gap between communities that disagree on issues of race, economics, education and politics. Immediately new presidential administration When he took office in January and political tensions were running high, the forum was a call for unity.


“We believe that broken relationships have led to broken economies and to broken communities, and so we started with those broken relationships,” Jackson said. “I believe Selma will change the world again, that we will be a model for the beloved community, and that people will come not only for our history, but for our healing.”


To begin the panel discussion, Jackson discussed the hardships Selma residents have experienced over the years, including high poverty rates, crime and violence, and how pluralism helped Selma residents find common ground.


“(Pluralism) means that in a democracy we must all find a way to live together with individuals and groups who are different from us… This idea that each of us must show some degree of tolerance towards those who are not looking, or thinking or pray like us, that is the core of democracy,” Obama said during his opening statement.


“We have just gone through a tough, hard-fought election. Talking about bridging our differences when the country and the world seemed so bitterly divided seems like an academic exercise. It felt far-fetched, even naive… I can’t think of a better time to talk about it.”


Jackson said her goal is to create opportunities for people with different perspectives to engage in honest, hard conversations that promote acceptance, understanding and the foundation for common ground.


Her efforts have brought together individuals from very different backgrounds, including a conservative white evangelical woman who, of all other participants, recruited the most people to participate in the center’s racial equity training.


Jackson also spoke about other instances in which she crossed the aisle to bridge the gap between white and black residents in her community.


“I listened, listened to their concerns, listened to their frustrations and then they listened to me. And it was so beautiful because from that one conversation, and many more since then, things changed,” Jackson said. “It’s not all settled yet, but we’ll find a way to work together.”


Of the 100 activists chosen from around the world to participate in the Obama Foundation’s Leaders program, Jackson was one of only three leaders, including Nika Kovač and Manu Meel, selected to speak during the forum to speak to Obama.


The activists also discussed the importance of communication, tolerance, hope and love in politics.


“Words alone do not rid people of prejudices. Words alone do not build trust. What does build trust, because it builds relationships, is people working together to get things done,” Obama said.


“There are some things we can’t do alone… We have to start looking for opportunities for people to be part of a society of people that brings people together.”



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