The tide is turning in Alabama.
The lunacy of the state's anti-immigrant law that went into effect in late September has become clearer as the unintended consequences have piled on with each passing week.
The state's economy is worsening; growers are looking for workers outside of Alabama
because the law took away their immigrant labor force; small businesses are drying
up as immigrants' consumer spending has dropped; workers are afraid to go to work;
mothers are afraid to shop for groceries and children are still afraid to attend school. All
this, because anti-immigrant politicians -- needing to create a political issue where none
really existed -- enacted a sweeping, overreaching and unconstitutional law that targets
people based on the color of their skin.
But now, "Oops" is being heard across the state of Alabama, as anti-immigrant legislators are beginning to concede that the law might -- just might -- have to be tweaked.
The truth is the law must be overturned.
That is the message that thousands of Alabamans and opponents of the law from across the U.S. will deliver on Monday, November 21 at a major unity rally kicking off the "One Family, One Alabama" campaign against HB 56.
We will gather at Birmingham's historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the cradle of the U.S. Civil Rights movement.
I will be there, representing SEIU's commitment to fight back against unconstitutional and mean-spirited state laws -- not just in Alabama but also in Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina and elsewhere -- that target immigrant communities.
I am the son of immigrant textile workers. These laws bring shame to the country I grew
up in. This is not my America. This is not our America.
With hard work by all of us who agree that America can do better, the tide will turn.
Follow the campaign on Twitter via hashtag #CrisisAL and @MitchAckerman -- I'll be live tweeting from the ground on Monday as we help kick off this campaign on behalf of economic security and justice.
