By Arian Campo-Flores

At historic bridge in Selma, president says progress made, but march is not yet over

President Barack Obama and a long list of luminaries will descend this weekend on this city for the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the violent civil-rights clash that helped usher in the 1965 Voting Rights Act. For resident and civic leader Jerria Martin, that means not only commemorating those who devoted their lives to enfranchising African-Americans, “but also continuing the work of justice and unity,” she said. “I hope the world will look at Selma and see that there is hope.”

Selma has struggled in the years since the march it is famous for, where civil-rights demonstrators were beaten by state troopers on March 7, 1965, as they sought to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge toward Montgomery. It is one of the poorest cities in an economically challenged state. Unemployment was 10.2% in December, nearly twice the rate for Alabama as a whole. About 42% of the population lives below the national poverty level. Its downtown, like many across Alabama’s “Black Belt” region, is lined with boarded-up buildings.

“It’s hard to get a job here,” said Dan Blevins, 39 years old, who was hanging out at the Resurrection Barber Shop, on a glum block off the main street downtown. Unable to find construction work, he said he lives off disability payments. About 80% of the city’s population is black. While Selma has a black mayor and majority-black council, white residents continue to own many of the biggest businesses, locals say. “In so many ways, Selma has been left out of the very progress that it helped to create,” said state Sen. Hank Sanders, who is African-American and represents the area.

But Ms. Martin, 26, sees opportunity here. After receiving a master’s degree at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2013, she said, she had job offers in New York and Philadelphia, but chose to return to Selma instead. She is now executive director of 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, an organization that focuses on economically empowering young people and training them to develop service projects, such as the creation of a community garden. She also is secretary of the board for the Black Belt Community Foundation, which awards grants for initiatives like keeping juveniles out of jail.

“I wanted to use those skills I acquired in Princeton to bring about transformative change,” Ms. Martin said. She is scheduled to lead a youth summit and speak at a unity breakfast as part of the anniversary events, which kicked off Thursday and include a re-enactment of the Selma-to-Montgomery march.

Ms. Martin is among a group of youth who are returning to Selma rather than pursuing opportunities elsewhere, said Nisa Miranda, director of the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development, which has worked with the city on workforce development programs.

Unemployment, while high, is down from 10.7% in December 2013. The city and surrounding county have lured a variety of manufacturers, from auto-parts suppliers for the state’s Honda Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. factories to a mill soon to be opened by Houston-based Zilkha Biomass Energy that will make wood pellets used as an alternative fuel source.

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/selma-50-yea...tity-1425579388
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An insightful comment under article.....
Bernard Wolff
"As a frequent visitor to this area of Alabama (paper mills), the elephant in the room ignored by the press & those stuck in the past is the outcome of the Selma March and Martin Luther KIng's sacrifices. Local citizens are friends, co-workers, fish & hunt together, their kids play with each other, and view each other as "who they are" as individuals, rather than "what they are" as liberals prefer. Yankees that accompany me are amazed at what they find during their visits. Dread over "being alone in a work area where everyone is black" quickly fades & Southern enjoyment ensues.
The fact is that MLK transformed the South, and removed previous barriers that the Al Sharptons and some in Hollywood & the media are determined to preserve

This is why talented people are moving here"

When I saw the President on TV giving the speech, using great flourish, I couldn't turn up the volume to actually listen to his poisonous words.

America has had enough of his analysis of civil right's non-progress. How was George Bush able to occupy the same stage with that clown? After all the hateful things Zero has said about him and his administration?

I just don't get it.

What Obama SHOULD be saying to black people......