This is how you solve a major Alabama problem. This is why Alabama won’t do it.

  Our governor likes to say Alabama is “open for business.” Our leaders insist we are the most “pro-business” state in the nation.

  This is, of course, situational. Private solar panel companies are effectively shut out of Alabama, thanks to a rooftop solar tax supported by Alabama Power and maintained by the Public Service Commission.

  And the love of free markets and enterprise doesn’t extend to workers who take the initiative and try to get the best deal for their labor. That’s when celebrations of entrepreneurship turn into demands for obedience. (Nothing seems to enrage an Alabama politician more than the thought of an employee talking back.)

Immigration is good, actually

  I’m tired of the hateful nonsense directed at immigrants.

  I’m disappointed that hardly any elected officials — either in Alabama or in our federal government — defend immigration as a vital, constructive force in our country.

  I’m done with the idea that I have to treat people waving signs saying “Mass Deportation Now” and cheering bloody-minded attacks on peaceful communities as good-faith political actors.

  And I despise the fact that we allow the most paranoid people in the country to set the terms of the immigration “debate.”

A cruel legacy: Alabama anti-immigrant law remembered

  Ten years ago this month, countless Latinx community members wanted to know what happened to their home, a state whose highway signs welcome visitors to “Alabama the Beautiful.”

  They ultimately marched in the streets, wearing shirts with slogans saying, “We love Alabama. We are Alabama.” Their faces were marked with worry, panic, and tears amid an atmosphere of uncertainty.

  The state had just enacted what lawmakers proudly proclaimed the nation’s toughest anti-immigrant law, one that “attacks every aspect” of an undocumented immigrant’s life. The Beason-Hammon Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act – better known as House Bill 56 (HB 56) – was modeled after an Arizona law that granted police the authority to demand “papers” demonstrating citizenship or legal status during routine traffic stops. HB 56 was signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley on June 9, 2011.