Alabama

A Poll Tax By any Other Name

August 5, 2020 Dana Sweeney, Facing South. Educate! Alabama, Democracy, Elections, Voting Rights

Robert Peoples remembers when African Americans won the right to vote in Alabama back in 1965. Though he was only 13 years old at the time, he had grown up in Mobile with a front-row seat to history as it was forged by a generation of ordinary Alabamians who won extraordinary political changes during the Civil Rights Movement. He knows how much was sacrificed and how much was gained, but that was another day. Today, more than 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Robert Peoples cannot vote in the state of Alabama.

Justice Department Report Finds Systemic Excessive Use Of Force By Prison Guards

July 24, 2020 Eddie Burkhalter, Alabama Political Reporter. Educate! Alabama, Department of Justice, Prisoner rights, State Violence

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday released a report that details why the federal government believes systemic use of excessive force within Alabama’s prisons for men violates the Eighth Amendment. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama found systemic problems of unreported or underreported excessive use of force incidents, a failure to properly investigate them and attempts by correctional officers and their supervisors to cover them up.

Hard Times: ‘It’s Like They’re Trying To Kill Us’

July 18, 2020 Matthew Vernon Whalen, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Alabama, Health Care, Prisoner rights, Prisons

American prisoners are incarcerated for years, often decades, often a majority of his or her life. Many prisoners serving more than a couple years are transferred from one prison to another, often multiple times, throughout their sentences. For this story, I spoke to three long-term Alabama prisoners about their experiences being transferred to a different prison mid-sentence or waking up to learn their friends have been transferred – including in the middle of a pandemic – and tried to square them with official policy. Linda Mays, Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) Communications Director, said that there are “numerous specific reasons that inmates are transferred” from one prison to another mid-sentence, but “it is impossible to explore every scenario” in which transfers occur.

U.S. Thousands Of Rights Advocates Against Alabama Abortion Law

May 20, 2019 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Resist! Abortion, Alabama, Reform

Abortion rights activists in Mobile, Alabama carried posters and chanted slogans on Sunday against the state's new law that bans nearly all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape and incest. Chanting "we've only just begun" demonstrators said the law put the lives of women in danger and refused them the right to control their own bodies. Women's reproductive rights defenders gathered in the capital, Montgomery, and in Birmingham, Anniston and Huntsville, to denounce the "Alabama Human Life Protection Act," or HB314, which virtually outlaws terminations.

All-American Torture Camps, It’s Raining Plastic & Oil Companies Dig It

May 14, 2019 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report Alabama, Environment, Plastic, pollution, Prisons

Human rights violations are rife in Alabama prisons – meanwhile, the Alabama Department of Corrections continues to overcrowd these torture centers while blaming mistreatment on staff shortages. Next up, we are effectively laminating our planet in plastic. And while the public recognition of plastic's evil and long life is growing, there are several aspects of this industry we don't talk about – and we really need to.

People In Alabama Prisons Are Shackled To Buckets For Days On End

May 7, 2019 By Ella Fassler, Truthout.org Educate! Abuse, Alabama, Prisons

On March 25, 2019, Christopher Caldwell reportedly found himself nearly immobile, shackled to a bucket at Limestone Correctional Facility in Alabama. His pant legs were taped up, and his belly, feet and hands were shackled. Caldwell’s handcuffs were shackled to his belly, preventing him from moving his hands above his waist. Caldwell had just been transferred to the prison from a relatively coveted work release center, and had already undergone extensive precautionary entrance procedures: several body cavity searches, metal detectors and drug dogs.

‘Resistance Can Be Fun’: Angela Davis Speaks In Alabama After Award Snub

February 19, 2019 By Abbey Crain, Al.com Resist! Activists, Alabama

“I have never loved Birmingham as much as I love Birmingham tonight,” Dr. Angela Davis said to a crowd at Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham. Davis was greeted with a standing ovation, fists raised, as she took the stage to address the generations of activists that came together to make sure she was in Birmingham on Feb.16. “It is really a joy to be here this evening,” Davis said. “It almost feels as if we are marking a new beginning.” Davis was originally invited by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to accept its annual Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights award. But six weeks ago, the BCRI rescinded the award due to Davis’ long-term support of Palestine.

Co-Op Broadband Brightens Future Of Rural Alabama

May 9, 2018 Cathy Cash, Electric.coop Create! Alabama, Internet, New Economy, Rural

The future of tiny Brilliant, Alabama, just got brighter with a clear path to broadband. Thanks to Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, state leadership and funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, residents of a rural community beset by persistent poverty will soon have the fastest internet service available. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Thursday presented a $2.98 million grant to Steve Foshee, president and CEO of the electric co-op and its broadband subsidiary, Tombigbee Communications, in an event crowded with elected officials and residents in Hamilton, Alabama. “To compete in today’s global marketplace, we must remove the infrastructure gaps in rural communities,” said Perdue, who lauded Tombigbee’s participation in the USDA grant program and encouraged others to follow.

DOJ Investigating Violence And Rape Inside Alabama Men’s Prisons

October 10, 2016 Kent Faulk, www.al.com Resist! Abuse, Alabama, DOJ, Prisons, Rape, Violence

By Kent Faulk for Alabama Media Group - The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into violence, rape, overcrowding and other problems within the men's prisons in Alabama, the DOJ announced today. The investigation will focus on whether prisoners are adequately protected from physical harm and sexual abuse at the hands of other prisoners; whether prisoners are adequately protected from use of excessive force and staff sexual abuse by correctional officers; and whether the prisons provide sanitary, secure and safe living conditions, according to the DOJ announcement.

Alabama Prison Guards Went On Strike This Weekend In Solidarity With Inmates

September 29, 2016 Brendan O'Connor, www.jezebel.com Resist! Alabama, Prisoner rights, Prisons, Strikes

By Brendan O'Connor for Jezebel - A group of guards at an Alabama prison went on strike this weekend, out of solidarity with inmates protesting overcrowding and unjust labor practices. Strikes and work stoppages have rolled through the nation’s prisons following the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising earlier this month. On September 9th, inmates at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore went on strike for at least 24 hours, refusing to show up for their work assignments.

Pipeline Leaks 250,000 Gallons, Causing States Of Emergency

September 20, 2016 Alejandro Dávila Fragoso, www.thinkprogress.org Organize! Alabama, Environment, Georgia, Oil, Oil & Gas, Oil Spill

By Alejandro Dávila Fragoso for Think Progress - A pipeline leak of at least 250,000 gallons of gasoline in a rural Alabama county is expected to affect fuel prices in the coming days across multiple southern states and the East Coast. The leak already prompted two states of emergency Thursday stemming from fuel shortage concerns. The oil leak was first discovered a week ago in rural Shelby County — just southeast of Birmingham, Alabama.

New Suit ‘Makes Clear Voting Discrimination Is Alive And Well’

September 9, 2016 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Organize! Alabama, discrimination, Voting Rights

By Andrea Germanos for Common Dreams - With Alabama's three highest courts failing to reflect its racial diversity, the state now faces a federal lawsuit alleging a violation of the Voting Rights Act. The case (pdf), filed in federal court Wednesday in Montgomery, "makes clear that voting discrimination is alive and well across the state of Alabama," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee).

Residents Of Eight Mile, Alabama, Call For Evacuation

August 11, 2016 Julie Dermansky, www.desmogblog.com Resist! Alabama, Chemical Spill

By Julie Dermansky for Desmog - Eight years after a mercaptan spill at a Mobile Gas facility in Eight Mile, Alabama, residents still affected by the spill are fighting back. “For years we have been told there is not a problem anymore, though the smell of gas never really goes away,” Eight Mile resident Geraldine Harper told DeSmog, “and I’m sure breathing that stuff is making my health worse.” Harper was one of more than 200 people who attended a public meeting hosted by the We Matter Eight Mile Community Association at the Highpoint Baptist Church in Eight Mile on July 21, 2016.

Expanded Suit Alleges Alabama Violated Voting Rights Act

July 1, 2016 Anna Susman, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Alabama, Jobs and Wages, Lawsuit, Voting Rights

By Anna Susman for Popular Resistance - Birmingham, Ala. – A lawsuit filed in April against the state of Alabama for blocking Birmingham’s minimum wage increase expanded Thursday with the filing of an amended complaint that includes additional plaintiffs and defendants and a new claim that the bill signed by Gov. Robert Bentley nullifying the pay hike violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus and nine individual black Alabama state legislators added their names to a suit initially brought by fast-food workers, the Alabama NAACP and Greater Birmingham Ministries charging the state acted illegally...

Alabama Rising

June 23, 2016 Joe Keffer, www.ystansburyforum.com Resist! Alabama, Unions, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Joe Keffer for The Stansbury Forum - On June 6th, North Carolina NAACP President and Moral Monday architect, the Reverend Doctor William Barber, captivated a racially and ethnically mixed crowd, approaching 1000, at Birmingham Alabama’s New Pilgrim Baptist Church. Reverend Barber called for a revolution of values similar to those of the Civil Rights days. He admonished, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” Alabama is one of the most anti-worker states in the country but the combination of a fight to increase minimum wages, a lawsuit, and the commitment to work in upcoming elections signals the kind of commitment called for by Reverend Barber and the possibility of a turnaround.

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