A healthy walk . . .

For the past few weeks I have said many things about Alabama's new illegal immigrant law. None of them were good, except for the part about it being a bonanza for Alabama lawyers. But tonight I saw the good that is rising up as a result of this ill conceived and ill advised action of our state legislature and Governor Robert Bentley.

I am no expert at estimating crowds, but I suspect that there were around two to three thousand people gathered at Linn Park in Birmingham at 6:30 tonight to peacefully protest the law. The march was organized by Greater Birmingham Ministries. The crowd was beautifully diverse in just about every way, except perhaps ideologically. I always like to work a room because you never know when you're going to run for office. This was a big room, or park, full of people who wanted to be there, wanted desperately to do something. Most of us regular folk were wearing white shirts. Clergy were asked to wear robes, although many just wore their stoles over their shorts and t-shirts. There was a myriad of Christian denominations represented in the crowd. My own, the United Methodists, turned out in a big way. There were Jews and Muslims. And I am sure there were other faiths and probably many who proclaim no religion but have a strong sense of injustice. It was a joy to mingle through the crowd, seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and talking to complete strangers who share the same passion. There was a sense of relief, and probably a little release, that at least and at last this was something that could be done, an action that could be taken.

Before the crowd moved through downtown Birmingham with candles lit, several religious leaders offered prayers from their respective faiths and in Spanish and English. An Imam from the Muslim community, a Rabbi from the Jewish community, a Priest from the Episcopal diocese and a priest from the Catholic diocese offered prayers. Instructions were given and we began to walk, supposedly in silence, but it wasn't really silent. We just had to talk a little bit. We circled four blocks and came back to the park for closing prayers. Stephanie Arnold of First United Methodist of Birmingham and Ferdinand Del Castillo of Riverchase UMC delivered powerful benedictions, Stephanie in English and Jaime in Spanish. The crowd the slowly moved back to their cars and went home or to places like Formagio's in Southside.

The program was simple. The words of the prayers sometimes hard to hear over the white noise of the big fountain. Some candles would not light. We didn't walk eight abreast as directed. Some didn't get the memo about the white shirts. And we talked more than we should.

But it was a perfect night.

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