HB56 Causes Medical Group to Cancel Alabama Meeting
HB56, the most draconian anti-immigration law in the country, is continuing to hurt the image and economy of the state of Alabama.
This morning, the Mobile Press-Register reported that the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, a national medical group, was cancelling a major meeting it had planned to hold next year in Mobile because of HB 56.
David Randel, president of the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that it was the first time he’s heard of a convention pulling out of Alabama after having made a commitment.
“The question, really, is how many meeting planners didn’t call Alabama because of the immigration law,” he said. “That’s a question you can’t answer.”
The cancellation comes as major civil rights, human rights and labor organizations are increasing pressure on foreign investors in Alabama – particularly the automakers Daimler AG, Honda, Hyundai, and their suppliers – to take a principled stand by calling on the Alabama legislature to repeal HB56, instead of “tweaking” the law, as some Alabama legislators are seeking to do.
“You can’t tweak bigotry, you can’t tweak hatred,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference. “That’s really the bottom line.”
Henderson and other advocates will be taking part in a major march next week from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to raise awareness of anti-immigrant and voter suppression efforts taking place in Alabama and other states. The march is a recreation of the historic march for voting rights that took place 47 years ago when civil rights advocates were attacked by state and local police after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Meanwhile, a coalition of civil rights groups, including the ACLU, argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit last week that HB56 and Georgia’s HB87 endanger public safety, invite racial profiling, and interfere with federal immigration policy.