Hello, fellow Kossacks. It seems the world is on fire. Change is coming in many
forms from many directions. From the streets of New York, to Tel Aviv. Young people
are hitting the streets, the future is here, and it comes in the form of our beautiful
children. Those that will be running the world soon.
Enough of my opinion, as the title promises a letter penned by my 20 something
son to the new governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley.
Dear Governor Robert J. Bentley,
I was born and raised in Alabama. As a citizen of this diverse and beautiful state for more than twenty four years I am completely appalled by the new immigration law HB-56, which falls short of nothing but state mandated racism. It’s beyond transparent that this bill’s sole goal, a goal which is already being achieved, is the expulsion of Alabama’s Hispanic population.
You call yourself Alabama’s governor, yet how can you when this bill does not serve or concern itself with any Alabamians in any degree? The construction and agricultural sectors of this state will be ravaged by a lack of essential labor to meet their needs, needs that are especially pressing now in the early fall. Crops will rot, buildings will stand on half-built. Teachers will be burdened with new and extraneous obligations that have no place in a public school and only serve to alienate future Hispanic students, both legal and illegal, from teachers they should be able to trust. Seasonal tourism and travel to our sunny southern beaches will be irreparably damaged by a perceived reputation of being hostile to outsiders. And countless businesses in all levels of the workforce will suffer as these invaluable people—invaluable to the history of this state—flee an unfair and unconstitutional law.
It’s clear now that this law was designed to serve only a very elite and small-minded, bigoted minority—people like my representative, Scott Beason, who sponsored this bill and who has a long history of racial insensitivity. This law is a full disgrace to the inspiring and transformative history of the Civil Rights movement that culminated here in Birmingham half a century ago. Governor Bentley, when history books look back to write this period you will be scribbled amongst such agitators and small-minded men as: George Wallace, Eugene "Bull" Connor, and Ross Barnet. Your support for this bill is an unneeded imposition to all working people, who are already hurting from a weak, stagnate economy, and an insult to Latin-Americans and true Alabamians everywhere.
Repeal HB-56 now.
-Jeff D