Luther Strange Sought to Weaken Alabama’s Tough Immigration Law
Luther Strange Sought to Weaken Alabama’s Tough Immigration Law
Back in 2011, Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) sought to weaken what at the time was one of the country’s toughest illegal immigration laws. As attorney general of Alabama, Strange requested that key provisions of the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, also known as HB 56, be removed according to a December 2011 memorandum he sent to then-Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard and…
via @washingtonpost: " "Business groups blamed the tough measures for scaring away capital and for an exodus of workers that hurt the state’s agriculture industry. After Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election, strategists in his own party blamed his support for the Alabama attrition policy (HB 56). Those critics included Donald Trump"
A letter to Alabama and the United States of America by Uriel, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter to Birmingham and a series of actions in 2011 across the Deep South.
Dear A—–a,
When the self-determination of a few are under attack, the self-determination of all are under attack. When the liberties of a few are under attack, the liberties of all under attack. From Fort Gibson to Montgomery, to the labor camps that have plagued our world. We have seen it in the schools of Johannesburg, in the emergency rooms of Stockholm, in the stores of Warsaw. We have seen it in the streets of Switzerland, at the border crossings of Israel, in the construction sites of Abu Dhabi, and in homes in the US.
We have been reminded of this cycle around the world, of institutionalized norms that do just this. They set precedent to the continual violation of basic human decency, common sense, compassion, dignity, respect, the rights of all, and everything that defines humanity.
It is a precedent which on the subject of immigration has recently been reinforced constantly with the abuses supported by the Obama administration through its ICE and DHS branch and ironically through its lack of executive power. It has been reinforced by the state sponsored laws that seek to dehumanize, the local municipalities that seek to criminalize, and the actions of individuals that seek to demonize.
It is a precedent that has been reinforced from sea to sea. From Arizona to the Carolinas to Utah to the small towns of Montana and Connecticut. From the suburbs of Los Angeles and Chicago, to the cities of Atlanta and Tuscon, and so many, many more. And now in the streets and capitol of Alabama with HB 56. They are often portrayed by some as normal in the atmosphere of this nation and rarely as the great trailblazers of injustice.
Dear A—–a, why?
But it is not normal. It is not just. It is not right. This is not the way things are, or should be, nor the way things will be. When people call on the execution of other human beings, when people propose laws to deny other human beings basic health attention even in life threatening situations including trauma, when people portray others as threats and enemies, when people seek to expel and scare children from libraries, schools, universities, and playgrounds.
When people seek to verbally, physically, and mentally abuse others or exacerbate such abuse. When people seek to isolate family members and love ones.
When people seek to deny others the ability to find a place to rent, work, find water, drive, speak out, walk, breath. When people seek to push the envelope of a constitution, the limits of a community, and the will of an individual. And when people seek to justify all of this in the name of law and what is just and right or sweep it under the rug of bureaucracy, it should spark more than an emotion. It should spark a reflection and a reaction that says
Dear A—–a, no!
No! It is not normal. It is not just. It is not right. It is not normal, just, or right in Alabama, in Georgia, in Arizona, in the Carolinas, in the United States of America or anywhere else in the world.
The re-sounding sound of a No to A—–a is a resounding No that not only echos across the nation but a No that should echo from every person in this nation to every corner of this world.
Dear A—–a, you are not alone,
There are without a doubt people out there who have plotted, are plotting, and will continue to plot on continuing with anti-immigrant hysteria. Again, we have painfully been reminded of the institutionalized norm cycle in this very nation. People who seek to continue to either directly or indirectly support such absurdities in a local town, suburb, state capitol, and even in the halls of Congress and the White House.
And yet there will be without a doubt people out there who will stand up, speak out and say no more. People who will continue to come out and say no more. These very systems which seek to push will result in further push back. Families, parents, students, workers, brother and sister, and individuals who will say no more. But it begins with each one of us, we must not become complacent. We must not get discouraged. We must not get swept up in these cycle of norms and routine. We must stand up, speak out, reach out, teach, learn, and say no more in a transformative way.
We have seen challenges in Illinois, New York, and California to these reinforcements in the form of support from Governors’ administrations, local municipalities, and state sponsored laws that seek to help. But most importantly we have seen challenges in those states and so many more in the form of actions by individuals and collectives that seek to change. These are not victories that serve as a pleasant distraction from the world which we might portray as awful, they are that light which reminds us of what could be and what is.
It is a reminder of not simply the role an electoral system can play in the direction of lives but what a directly involved, organized, decisive, political, and powerful community can do when intervening. It is a reminder that change does not come about in terms, eloquent speeches, or because politicians had epiphanies in their sleep or when reading a letter. But because people have collectively been able to create a new world, because people have been able to disestablish these norms in a sustainable way that seek to firmly establish what is just and right.
That potential is there, it’s in Arizona, in the Carolinas, Utah, in the small towns of Montana and Connecticut. It’s in the suburbs of Los Angeles and Chicago, in the cities of Atlanta and Tuscon, and in so many other places. It’s in Alabama. And it’s in the United States of America.
Alabama Republican Bill Allows Discrimination Against Any Couple Who Isn't White, Christian, And Heterosexual
Alabama Republican Bill Allows Discrimination Against Any Couple Who Isn’t White, Christian, And Heterosexual
Unwilling to comply with a federal court ruling that struck down Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban, state Republicans are fast-tracking a bill that would allow judges across the state to pick and choose who gets married, which could result in discrimination against interracial couples and non-Christian couples in addition to same-sex couples.
The Freedom of Religion in Marriage Protection Act, also…
The vast scope of the law turned Alabama into an unprecedented test for the anti-immigration movement. If self-deportation didn’t work there, it’s hard to imagine where it could. Early reports suggested success: undocumented immigrants appeared to flee Alabama en masse. But two years later, HB 56 is in ruins. Its most far-reaching elements have proved unconstitutional, unworkable, or politically unsustainable. Elected officials, social workers, clergy, activists, and residents say an initial immigrant evacuation that roiled their communities ended long ago. Many who fled have returned to their old homes.
How America's harshest immigration law failed | MSNBC
