Alabama
Fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, Selma and Birmingham have been ranked among the worst cities for business in Alabama:
“With every best there is a worst, and the dubious honor of being Alabama’s least business friendly city belongs to Selma, with a total score of 27.32. Simply put, Selma possesses unfavorable ratings in all four business-friendly categories. Its next-to-last place showing in Economic Vitality is the result of a shrinking job pool and one of the lowest per capita incomes in Alabama. Selma’s business tax burden rankings are also below average, as its transportation score (both 41st place).
A final reason for Selma’s low ranking is its community allure score of only 28.41 out of 100 possible points (49th). With a violent crime rate five-and-a-half times the state average, Selma has the worst crime rate in Alabama. Educational outcomes are also depressed, with significantly smaller proportions of students scoring well on standardized tests. The city’s workforce is also less prepared than much of the rest of the state, with significantly fewer adults age 25 or older possessing a high school diploma or better.”
In 2011, OD toured the “Ruins of Selma” and shot some photos which completely explain why Selma in 2013 was ranked the most inhospitable city for Alabama for business. I suspect this honor was bestowed upon Selma only because Tuskegee, “The Pride of the Swift Growing South,” wasn’t even included on the list.
Note: It was because of what happened in Selma that Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Funny how we all “know” that places like West Virginia and Appalachia are backwards and fit only for derision and ridicule but places like Selma and Birmingham are never held forth in a similar fashion even though by all measurable parameters they have infinitely worst standards of living. And if by some chance Selma and Birmingham or any other black hole is the subject of the discussion then the only discourse permitted is the routine “we have to do more to invest in our future” drivel along with the not-to-be-missed “legacy of slavery and Jim Crow” excuses.
I have very fond memories of summers spent with my grandparents in their farmhouse behind Craig AFB. Selma is now a place I avoid. I recently stopped in Selma to get gas as I was traveling. It was frightening. I kept one hand on my weapon the entire time I was pumping gas.
Hunter, you should offer photo tours of Selma and Birmingham. People with the means and where with all often take photo safaris into darkest Africa. It’s so much more convenient to go to Alabama, St. Louis or Detroit. There is danger involved of course so the guides would have to be armed. It would be a tour of the grotesque and bestial. As the brutal murders continue there will always be fresh sites to visit in the tour. It’s the same idea as ruin porn.
BRA has failed the Contards can quibble all they want, but even I think many of them understand that BRA is unfixable. We whites need our freedom