The Birmingham News: Speakers at a Friday rally at the Capitol that capped this week's Selma-to-Montgomery march attacked Alabama's immigration law and a law that starting in 2014 will require Alabamians to show photo ID at the polls, with some exceptions.
Wade Henderson, president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Washington, called Alabama's immigration law, known as House Bill 56, the "most vile" in the country.
"The state of Alabama ... is once again using fear and intimidation as weapons against those without power. This time, the targets are Latinos and the aim is to drive them from their homes and their communities," Henderson said.
"And just like segregation, we know that this path leads to the death of the American dream," he said.
The immigration law as written makes it a state crime for someone to even be in Alabama without proof of legal presence in the United States, and also makes it a crime for an "unauthorized alien" to apply for work, among many provisions. Parts of the law are on hold while courts determine their constitutionality.
The rally, which lasted more than two hours and likely attracted several thousand people over that time, was the end of a Selma-to-Montgomery march that started Sunday, recalling the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights.
"Just as we prevailed 47 years ago, we will prevail again by passing laws that repeal HB 56 and that make it easier, not harder, to vote," Henderson said. "We march today because the right to vote is sacred. We march today because injustice anywhere is injustice against us all."
The Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd that photo ID laws suppress voter turnout by poor people who don't have cars or driver's licenses or other photo ID. He said supporters claim photo ID is needed to fight voter fraud.
"The fraud is to use non-existent widespread voter fraud to try to suppress and stop people from voting," said Sharpton, president of the civil-rights group National Action Network and host of the "PoliticsNation" program on MSNBC.
On March 7, 1965, people started a march for voting rights and were attacked in Selma by police using tear gas and clubs. Images of the attack helped persuade Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which struck down roadblocks to voter registration by blacks. Later in March 1965, protesters completed a Selma-to-Montgomery march and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to an estimated 25,000 people at the Capitol.
On Friday, state Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, asked the crowd, "Are you willing to go back to the '50s and the '40s and the '60s?
"If you are not willing to go back, then I want you to repeat after me, 'Hell no, I ain't going back,'" and many people complied.
"If we unite, we cannot be oppressed. We can only be oppressed when we're divided," Sanders said. "The spirit that produced Jim Crow, the spirit that produced segregation, the spirit that produced slavery, the spirit that produced attacks on women, all of that is the same spirit that today is producing attacks on fair immigration ... on voting rights, on public education," he said.
Juan Jacome, who said he is a construction worker and illegal immigrant from Mexico who lives in Clanton, said he came to the rally to call for the repeal of the state immigration law.
He said he has no criminal record, pays taxes and has a 2-year-old daughter born in Alabama. "We need the help to repeal HB 56," said Jacome, saying he'd like to be able to get a renewable work permit.
Ken Sims, a garment worker from St. Louis, said he and about 40 other members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists rode a bus 12 hours from St. Louis to get to the rally. "I came down for voting rights, and to support immigrant workers all over the country," Sims said.
The crowd sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at the start of the rally and "We Shall Overcome" near the close. Some people carried signs with messages such as "We are all immigrants," and "United for voting rights and immigrant rights. Repeal HB 56."
Martin Luther King III told the crowd that he thinks his father would have opposed voter photo-ID laws being passed or considered in many states.
"I think my father would be greatly disappointed in our nation," he said. King also loosely quoted his father when he said, "The moral arc of the universe is long, but bends toward justice."
Veteran civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson voiced support for a federal bill that would provide paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children.
"Democracy is a path to citizenship, not deportation," Jackson said. "Democracy is the path of the DREAM Act, not the nightmare act of race-profiling, violence and family separation."
Jackson also praised President Barack Obama's record, and closed his speech with a call-and-response: "We fight back for voting rights. We fight back for civil rights. ... We the people will win. Nothing will break our spirit. We are one. Keep hope alive. President Barack Obama, keep hope alive."
Wade Henderson, president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Washington, called Alabama's immigration law, known as House Bill 56, the "most vile" in the country.
"The state of Alabama ... is once again using fear and intimidation as weapons against those without power. This time, the targets are Latinos and the aim is to drive them from their homes and their communities," Henderson said.
"And just like segregation, we know that this path leads to the death of the American dream," he said.
The immigration law as written makes it a state crime for someone to even be in Alabama without proof of legal presence in the United States, and also makes it a crime for an "unauthorized alien" to apply for work, among many provisions. Parts of the law are on hold while courts determine their constitutionality.
The rally, which lasted more than two hours and likely attracted several thousand people over that time, was the end of a Selma-to-Montgomery march that started Sunday, recalling the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights.
"Just as we prevailed 47 years ago, we will prevail again by passing laws that repeal HB 56 and that make it easier, not harder, to vote," Henderson said. "We march today because the right to vote is sacred. We march today because injustice anywhere is injustice against us all."
The Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd that photo ID laws suppress voter turnout by poor people who don't have cars or driver's licenses or other photo ID. He said supporters claim photo ID is needed to fight voter fraud.
"The fraud is to use non-existent widespread voter fraud to try to suppress and stop people from voting," said Sharpton, president of the civil-rights group National Action Network and host of the "PoliticsNation" program on MSNBC.
On March 7, 1965, people started a march for voting rights and were attacked in Selma by police using tear gas and clubs. Images of the attack helped persuade Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which struck down roadblocks to voter registration by blacks. Later in March 1965, protesters completed a Selma-to-Montgomery march and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to an estimated 25,000 people at the Capitol.
On Friday, state Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, asked the crowd, "Are you willing to go back to the '50s and the '40s and the '60s?
"If you are not willing to go back, then I want you to repeat after me, 'Hell no, I ain't going back,'" and many people complied.
"If we unite, we cannot be oppressed. We can only be oppressed when we're divided," Sanders said. "The spirit that produced Jim Crow, the spirit that produced segregation, the spirit that produced slavery, the spirit that produced attacks on women, all of that is the same spirit that today is producing attacks on fair immigration ... on voting rights, on public education," he said.
Juan Jacome, who said he is a construction worker and illegal immigrant from Mexico who lives in Clanton, said he came to the rally to call for the repeal of the state immigration law.
He said he has no criminal record, pays taxes and has a 2-year-old daughter born in Alabama. "We need the help to repeal HB 56," said Jacome, saying he'd like to be able to get a renewable work permit.
Ken Sims, a garment worker from St. Louis, said he and about 40 other members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists rode a bus 12 hours from St. Louis to get to the rally. "I came down for voting rights, and to support immigrant workers all over the country," Sims said.
The crowd sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at the start of the rally and "We Shall Overcome" near the close. Some people carried signs with messages such as "We are all immigrants," and "United for voting rights and immigrant rights. Repeal HB 56."
Martin Luther King III told the crowd that he thinks his father would have opposed voter photo-ID laws being passed or considered in many states.
"I think my father would be greatly disappointed in our nation," he said. King also loosely quoted his father when he said, "The moral arc of the universe is long, but bends toward justice."
Veteran civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson voiced support for a federal bill that would provide paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children.
"Democracy is a path to citizenship, not deportation," Jackson said. "Democracy is the path of the DREAM Act, not the nightmare act of race-profiling, violence and family separation."
Jackson also praised President Barack Obama's record, and closed his speech with a call-and-response: "We fight back for voting rights. We fight back for civil rights. ... We the people will win. Nothing will break our spirit. We are one. Keep hope alive. President Barack Obama, keep hope alive."
No comments:
Post a Comment