I was born in 1982 in Mobile, Alabama. I have always been proud to be from Mobile. The city is not only my hometown, but also the hometown of my maternal family going back several generations. Since leaving Mobile as a teenager, I have returned to spend time in the Azalea City each year and look forward to continuing to do so with my children for many years to come. Mobile has a sterling reputation as a center of Southern hospitality and has long been a center of diversity along the Gulf Coast and throughout the Southeast. Even so, I would not describe Mobile, or the state of Alabama, as the most welcoming of cities. In fact, living outside of Alabama, I can attest to the fact that the state's national and international reputations took major hits with the ill conceived immigration bill, HB 56 in 2011. This is unfortunate, because Mobile has been a city of immigrants with a diverse population going back to it's earliest roots. In fact, Mobile was founded as a form of
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