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When Ricky Vickery stands by the side of the road, holding up a sign that says, “homeless and hungry,” he gets mixed reactions from motorists.

Some lower their car windows and hand him money. Some call him nasty names. Others mockingly wave wads of cash at the 57-year-old or pretend to eat a sandwich before speeding away.

Still others call police in Montgomery, Alabama, who have ticketed or jailed Vickery 15 times while enforcing a state law that bans panhandling.

But not all police are quick to arrest him.

“Some of them don’t like the law. But a lot of them do,” he said. “A lot of them think it’s a waste of their time, you know. It ain’t even police work, someone messing around with people who are standing there holding a sign.”

Recently, however, the police harassment of Vickery and other people in Montgomery who depend on the benevolence of strangers for their survival ended.

Under the terms of a lawsuit settlement that the Southern Poverty Law Center and its partners announced just before Thanksgiving, Montgomery police will no longer enforce two state statutes that authorize the arrest or ticketing of people who panhandle.

“I’m happy about it,” Vickery said. “It’ll be good for me.”

Vickery is one of at least 3,200 Alabama residents, including more than 230 families and 290 veterans, who experience homelessness, according to data from 2019. In Montgomery County, more than 350 people are homeless on any given night.

Panhandling laws, including those in Alabama, have their origins in vagrancy laws that were designed to criminalize Black people after the Civil War. The discriminatory impact continues today, with people of color disproportionately harmed by laws that target people who panhandle because of a lack of stable housing or resources.

‘Doing the right thing’

The SPLC, ACLU of Alabama and the National Homelessness Law Center filed the federal lawsuit against the city of Montgomery in February on behalf of Vickery, Jonathan Singleton and Micki Holmes – three men who panhandle in the city – to challenge two unconstitutional state statutes that make it unlawful for anyone to “beg” or “solicit,” subjecting those who do so to fines or jail.

In the same lawsuit, the organizations also sued Montgomery County and the state of Alabama for enforcing those statutes. The lawsuit against the state and county is still active, but the settlement ends the litigation against the city.

“The city of Montgomery is doing the right thing by ending its enforcement of Alabama’s inhumane and unconstitutional laws that criminalize homelessness and poverty,” said Ellen Degnan, an SPLC staff attorney. “Housing, not handcuffs, is the way to end homelessness. While the terms of this settlement – if correctly implemented – will help people who panhandle within the city limits of Montgomery, there are still thousands of Alabamians who remain at risk of being jailed or ticketed for simply asking for help.”

In addition to no longer fining or jailing people for panhandling under the state statutes, the city will also drop all outstanding panhandling charges. What’s more, the city will waive any outstanding fines and costs owed.

Also under the settlement, the city is giving $10,000 to the SPLC “to be used for charitable purposes on behalf of people experiencing homelessness,” the agreement states. The SPLC intends to donate that money to Montgomery Pride United, which will use the funds to provide emergency financial assistance to people experiencing homelessness.

Read more here.

In solidarity,

Your friends at the SPLC