Hundreds Of Fans Look To Kanye West To Speak Out For Civil Rights In Alabama
Alabama student launches explosive campaign on Change.org asking hip hop artist Kanye West to make public statement against Alabama’s controversial new immigration law.
Hundreds of people have joined a popular campaign on Charge.org calling on hip hop artist Kanye West, currently in Alabama preparing for a nationwide tour, to meet with civil rights leaders and speak out against the state’s controversial new immigration law.
William Anderson, a student at the University of Alabama Birmingham and a long-time fan of Kanye West, launched the campaign on Change.org after learning that the famous musician was spending the month in Birmingham, Alabama, in preparation for his “Watch the Throne” tour with fellow hip hop artist Jay-Z.
“Like thousands of Kanye fans, I grew up listening to hip hop, and it was one of the things that shaped my consciousness about race and justice,” said William Anderson
“Alabama’s new immigration law is an attack on the state’s citizens, documented and undocumented. In the spirit of the social justice and hip hop, I hope that Kanye listens to his fans and takes a few minutes to learn and educate others about the crisis that is happening in Alabama.”
The law in question, HB 56, has been called the nation’s most extreme immigration law by civil rights leaders in Alabama, who have likened the measure to Alabama’s Jim Crow laws from the previous century. Since HB 56 was signed into law, civil rights advocates have reported that crops are rotting in the fields without workers to pick them, schools have recorded above-average absence rates, and residents have begun to leave the state.
Within 24 hours of the campaign’s launch, William Anderson had recruited hundreds of supporters on Change.org, the world’s fastest growing platform for social change.
William Anderson has managed to recruit more than 780 supporters who are asking Kanye West to comment on the most controversial civil rights issue in Alabama’s recent history while he’s there. Change.org is about empowering people to take action on the issues that matter to them, and it’s been incredible to watch William do just that.”
Kanye West will be in Alabama until October 28.
