"In this rural Alabama community, some residents can’t flush their toilets. Developers want to build a state-of-the-art data center next door."

"HAYNEVILLE, Ala. — When Alabamians marched from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 to demand voting rights for African Americans, Highway 80 became their path toward freedom. 

Two weeks after state troopers had violently attacked nonviolent demonstrators on that highway’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, Alabamians took back to the street. Led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., thousands of citizens marched the 54 miles to Montgomery over three days, camping alongside Highway 80 in makeshift camps hosted by residents and business owners. 

More than six decades later, residents and civil rights activists are engaged in a new fight on that historic road. 

Their battle cry? We don’t want you here."

Lee Hedgepeth reports for Inside Climate News June 10, 2026. [2]