Baseball Fans Rally Against Arizona Immigration Law

Baseball Fans Rally Against Arizona Immigration Law

Baseball Fans Rally Against Arizona Immigration Law

The nationwide boycott of the Arizona law has hit the sports arena: demonstrators outside ball parks in cities across the country are demanding that baseball owners move the 2011 All Star Game out of Arizona.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

In New York, a rally is planned tonight outside Citi Field in Queens where baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks will play the New York Mets. Demonstrations have already taken place outside ball parks in cities across the country, demanding that baseball owners move the 2011 All Star Game out of Arizona. The owners will have to make their decision carefully considering that 30 percent of its players are Latinos. Nation sports editor and Bad Sports author Dave Zirin tells Democracy Now! that this is "not exactly news you’re gonna hear on SportsCenter." These demonstrations are so important because "what they’ve allowed people to do is nationalize the issue and have it not be just an Arizona issue.”

Ken Kendrick, owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, holds fundraisers for Arizona’s SB 1070 legislation supporting politicians in the owner’s box of what is a publicly-funded stadium in Arizona. “This is political money laundering and it happens in our cities around the country," says Zirin. "We are underwriting right wing politicians and right wing politics through sports." A couple players from the Diamondbacks have come out and spoken against SB 1070, only to be shut down very quickly by team management and Major League Baseball itself. Within hours of the law being passed, 18 baseball players came out against the Arizona Law, but now they’re being pressured to keep their opinions to themselves.

—Melanie Breault

Become a Sustaining Donor This September

Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump’s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum–7 to criminalize left political organizing, we’re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes.

This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can—and will—overcome this darkness.

We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we’re to win this fight.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible. 

I hope you’ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we’ll send you a brand new “Hands Off the Free Press!” sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today. 

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x