Martin Luther King Jr. 40th Anniversary Tribute - Selma the Musical

A Note from playwright Tommy Butler..

Nothing in life is ours alone.

What is yours today, was someone else's yesterday, and it will belong to someone else when you are gone.

God has created all things and his way of creating is very mysterious; like taking a nightclub singer, reconstructing his lifestyle to write the musical Selma - a tribute to one of the greatest spiritual and moral leaders of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Selma does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.

Selma was not created by me. I was only the sounding board used by God to write music and lyrics that could only have come from Him (I'm forever grateful).

I'm aware HE could have used any one of us, I don't question the will of God, I only want to do his will.

All of us are being used in some way because everything we do affects someone or something in this life.

Dr. King was one of the bravest men to walk the face of the earth. He knew how easy it would be to stand behind the gun and speak.

But he willingly stripped himself of all weapons but one - "Love" - and he and his followers bravely stood before the most ruthless and dangerous force there is - "Evil."

And as he stood there looking down the muzzle of Evil, he cried out for all the poor and oppressed peoples of the world, "If it will bring you closer to God I will lay down my life, I will meet hate with love, body force with spiritual force.

And if you cut me down you will not have victory because you cannot kill the word, the word is God, the word shall be heard."

I have always been in support of the philosophy of Dr. King. That philosophy is now being carried on by the Dr. Martin Luther King Foundation for Social Change, headed by Coretta Scott King.

It is my sincerest hope that all concerned people will give their support to this needed organization and help make Dr. King's dream a reality.

It is most certainly one of the important objectives of the Selma Organization.

- Tommy Butler, 1976