Nineteen Alabama organizations send letter to Legislature asking them to vote against anti-protest bills that infringe on Alabamians’ rights

Hometown Action and 18 other Alabama organizations sent a letter to Alabama Legislators this week asking them to vote No on HB 2 and SB 115, bills that attack the core principles of American democracy, including the right to assemble and participate in dissent in the form of protest, which the First Amendment protects.

Organizations who have signed onto the letter with Hometown Action are ACLU Alabama, Alabama Arise, Alabama Moves Coalition for Progress and Black Liberation, Alabama NAACP, Alabama Poor People’s Campaign, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, Coosa Riverkeeper, Energy Alabama, GASP, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Jobs to Move America, Little River Waterkeeper, Montgomery Pride United/ Bayard Rustin Community Center, People’s Justice Council, POWER House, Reclaiming Our Time and South Alabama Center for Fair Housing. 

HB2, as currently amended, changes the definition of a riot to the “assemblage of five or more persons engaging in conduct which creates an immediate danger of and/or results in damage to property or injury to persons.” It goes further to describe an individual as participating in a riot “if, after receiving an order to disperse by a law enforcement officer or when in violation of a curfew, the person intentionally participates in a riot.” This means police officers would have more liberty in determining when a protest becomes a riot and who can face legal penalties as a result. Those unreasonable penalties include mandatory 24-hour detention and minimum sentencing for convictions.

“Alabama has a storied history of demonstrations, protests, and collective actions in the interest of protecting our civil rights, poor and working-class people, and natural resources,” Kathleen Kirkpatrick, climate & strategic initiatives director for Hometown Action, said. “ HB2’s outrageously vague definition of ‘riot’ and wide latitude for law enforcement to target small groups of protesters – as well as their supporters – for arrest under this proposed law is an unconstitutional and racist attack on our civil liberties. Alabama’s lawmakers have a responsibility to protect our freedom to assemble, and should vote No on HB2.”

The organizations agree this means some forms of civil disobedience could easily be considered a “riot” and that any attendee or a person providing assistance such as offering water to an attendee could face severe penalties.

“These anti-protest bills are so dangerous because they criminalize civil disobedience. If you think about where we learn civil disobedience, it’s from our civil rights leaders who did this work before us,” Unique Dunston of Alabama Moves said. “This is what brought us to where we are today as far as equality and human rights. It’s very scary to think about being charged with a felony for doing things that we have to do to keep our rights as American citizens. I think this is a direct response to the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others. I think Republicans had to have a response to that.”

Anti-protest bills aren’t just happening in Alabama, they are popping up all across the country. Over the past few years, there have been widespread demonstrations across our country, calling out the unjust murders of victims such as George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Legislators across the country are working to put a halt to such demonstrations categorizing them as riots. Those injustices against Black life extend to Alabama, where state institutions have a history of systemic racism, which is yet another reason organizers are calling on lawmakers to kill these racist and unconstitutional bills that infringe on the rights of Alabamians.

“The Alabama State Conference NAACP opposes HB2 (Anti-riot bill) and any bill that threatens the right to peacefully protest or other similar forms of civil disobedience,” Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP, said. “We believe—if enacted—the bill would unfairly target certain groups in this state and therefore the outcomes would be detrimental to these citizens. The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental founding bedrock of this nation and any law that ultimately threatens our citizens right to protest —such as HB2—is considered a direct attack on those citizens and for that reason, the Alabama NAACP vehemently opposes the proposed HB2 bill.”

The House was slated to take up the bill on Wednesday, February 16, but it was carried over to another legislative day, which has not yet been announced.

Hometown Action is inviting other organizations to sign on the letter prior to the bill hitting the House and Senate floors for debate. Those interested may do so here.