By ALAN BLINDERMAY 19, 2014  SELMA, Ala. — For Allen Green, a native of this rural Alabama city known mostly for a violent confrontation between civil rights demonstrators and Alabama troopers nearly a half-century ago, Selma’s prolonged economic slide began when Craig Air Force Base shut down in the 1970s.  “There were new people coming in, people with money, in and out of here,” said Mr. Green, whose family has run an automobile repair shop here for 54 years. “Ever since they closed, it’s sort of been a steady decline.”  But now, in a county where the unemployment rate has been in the double digits for nearly seven years, there is a rare burst of economic hope involving an improbable source: Kuwait, which could decide to use the former Air Force base as a training complex for up to 300 pilots every year.  Since local officials issued a vague announcement this month about the possibility of an “international pilot-training program” starting in Dallas County, where Selma is the seat, there has been a rare ripple of cautious optimism around town.  But there has also been a deeply held sense of dread that once again, someplace else may outpace a county that residents and experts say cannot seem to get ahead.  “So many things have been promised before that haven’t happened,” Mr. Green, 54, said, “everything from an interstate highway coming through to just one thing and another.”  Others share his skepticism. Such is the nature of a place where residents talk of the gunshots they sometimes hear, the abandoned buildings they drive past, and the jobs that have faded away and rarely been replaced.  They survey the state, especially Prattville, a suburb of Montgomery less than 40 miles away, where the median household income, $58,773, is more than double Selma’s, $22,076, and they speculate aloud about why their city has not thrived.  “Sometimes you wonder if it’s going to be around, if it’s going to get extinct,” said Juanita Tripp, 70, who has lived in Selma her entire life and now works at a furniture store.  But a development at Craig, which for decades trained American pilots and has a runway that can accommodate some of the world’s largest aircraft, could be the catalyst for a reversal of the economic slump in a county, now about 70 percent black, where the biggest annual draw is a re-enactment of the 1965 crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge by civil rights marchers.  Researchers note that in a county of approximately 42,000 people, a rush of new jobs related to the training center would move the unemployment rate sharply downward. (The state said Dallas County’s unemployment rate was 11.7 percent in April, the most recent month for which data is available, nearly five percentage points higher than the statewide figure.)  If there is any trepidation about a Middle Eastern presence in an Alabama town, it has not surfaced. Instead, mindful of the economic stakes, local officials are doing all they can to preserve Selma’s chances. The mayor did not respond to messages seeking comment, and the executive director of the Selma & Dallas County Economic Development Authority declined a request for an interview, citing his desire not to endanger the project.  Selma would not be the first Alabama city to secure a momentous investment from abroad. Airbus has a significant presence in Mobile, and Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz all operate large factories in the state. In Wilcox County, which borders Dallas County, a Chinese company runs a copper plant.  But in many instances, the story here has been about Dallas County and the longstanding economic struggles of the self-described Queen City of the Black Belt.  “They’ve been in the running for many projects and have not made it to that last point,” said Nisa Miranda, the longtime director of the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development.  It is a troubling and grim record that many people here blame for quality-of-life issues that contributed to a population decline in Selma of more than 2 percent in about two years, even as Alabama’s population increased by nearly 1 percent.  “When we first came to Selma, it was peaceful and quiet, and at night you could walk anywhere you wanted,” Charity Baskin said as she chatted on her porch on a recent afternoon, a short walk from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, which civil rights protesters used as a meeting place in the 1960s. “But as the years went by, it started getting violent, and we don’t care for that violence.”  There are far rosier takes on Selma and its prospects, though, and in conservative Alabama, there is a feeling among some here that the plights are more individual than systemic.  “If you work hard, you’ll get ahead,” said Randy Malone, 53, though he acknowledged that Selma “can always be better.”  And there is a sense here, in a region of deep and proud religious traditions, that a higher power will someday redeem Selma.  “A lot of people prayed for a better economy,” said David Summerlin, whose hardware store customers can also pick up a brownie — with nuts — for 75 cents. “They pray every day, and they pray hard. And I think it’s going to happen.”  That sentiment was evident even to a relative newcomer in a city filled with natives.  “A lot of hope and faith, that’s what’s holding them,” said Teja Schmitt, who arrived in Selma four years ago. “It’s the faith. People so strongly believe that there are going to be changes.”  No one knows whether those changes will include pilots from overseas.  “It will make the economy better if it happens,” said Ray Martin, who owns a barbershop on Alabama Avenue. “But we’ve got to wait and see.”  A version of this article appears in print on May 20, 2014, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Civil Rights Battlefront is Now Yearning for Jobs. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
People in Selma, Ala., the scene of civil rights clashes, hope Kuwait will halt their city’s economic decline by building a pilot training center at a former Air Force base.