Q&A: In St. Louis, the Rev. Darryl Gray is 'praying with my feet'

The Rev. Darryl Gray, a prominent figure in the St. Louis protests with more than 40 years’ experience as a civil rights activist, talked with the Monitor’s Christa Case Bryant in November for our cover story, “Bridging black and white: How St. Louis residents are trying to surmount racial inequities post-Ferguson.” This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: You’ve called St. Louis the new Selma. Why?

Selma was a very peculiar place. It was hard. A lot of civil rights organizations did not want to go into Selma…. because people thought it was too hard to penetrate.

[St. Louis also] is going to be a very tough nut to crack.

If we can be successful in St. Louis as Dr. King and the civil rights leaders were in Selma, it could change this country, as Selma did. The success in Selma produced the Voting Rights Act. At the end of the day we have to produce legislation. We’re not going