Politicians can’t stop talking about Selma, Alabama.
Amiright?
I mean, I guess I get it.
It was a pivotal place in the 1960’s civil rights movement and tons of politicians flock there every year to pay homage.
But here’s the thing: Have you ever actually been to Selma?
I have.
My aunt was a guidance counselor in the public school there for her (entire?) career.
She had such a heart for that town.
She was always a champion of trade schools too, believing that a traditional liberal arts university was a waste for many.
We would visit her every summer coming back and forth from Saudi Arabia.
She lived in a little white house with a neatly manicured yard on Pettus St.
I remember how humid it was in front of the high school as my mom and I waited for her to finish something at work one hot afternoon.
Even back when visiting as a child, I remember Selma as it was, predominantly black and poor.
A sleepy little town on the Alabama River.
But I went back this past summer and found the place to be much worse off than I had left it.
The town was largely in decay.
Abandoned buildings were scattered about, and house after house was crumbling and silent.
My kids were terrified after a guy harassed us at Walgreens, playing into every awful stereotype that you’re not supposed to say out loud.
It was unsafe.
And I regret stopping and putting my family in that situation.
Come to find out, Selma has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, 30% live below the poverty line, and it is now one of the most violent cities in the country.
There are of course many policy implications here.
Where has all of the money and help gone? The Great Society? Welfare? Public schools? Affirmative action?
If money is not fixing the problem, what else can be done?
And don’t make it all some kind of race – white vs. black thing – that’s a copout.
My aunt would be heartbroken at that beautiful town in my childhood memories.