Santana is Booed for Using Baseball's Civil Rights Game to Speak Out for Civil
Rights | The Nation
by Dave Zirin, thenation.com
May 16th 2011
Major League Baseball’s annual Civil Rights Game was poised to be a
migraine-inducing exercise in Orwellian irony. Forget about the fact that Civil
Rights was to be honored in Atlanta, where fans root for a team called the
Braves and cheer in unison with the ubiquitous "tomahawk chop."
Forget about the fact that the Braves have been embroiled in controversy since
pitching coach Roger McDowell aimed violent, homophobic threats at several
fans. Forget that this is a team that has done events with Focus on the Family,
an organization that is to Civil Rights what Newt Gingrich is to marital
fidelity.
The reason Atlanta was such a brutally awkward setting for a Sunday Civil
Rights setting, was because Friday saw the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal,
sign HR 87, a law that shreds the Civil Rights of the state’s Latino
population. Modeled after Arizona’s horrific and unconstitutional SB 1070, HR
87 authorizes state and local police the federal powers to demand immigration
papers from people they suspect to be undocumented. Those without papers on
request will find themselves behind bars. Civil rights hero, Atlanta’s John
Lewis has spoken out forcefully against the legislation saying “This is a
recipe for discrimination. We’ve come too far to return to the dark past."
But there was Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, celebrating civil
rights in the Georgia, and chortling excitedly about the 2011 All-Star game in
Arizona. In the hands of Selig, irony becomes arsenic. Thank God that
Commisioner Selig was stupid enough to choose the Civil Rights Game to honor,
among others, the great musician Carlos Santana. Santana was supposed to be the
Latino stand-in, a smiling symbol of baseball’s diversity. And maybe, he would
even play a song!
But Bud picked the wrong Latino. Carlos Santana took the microphone and said
that he was representing all immigrants. Then Santana added, "The people of
Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of
yourselves." In a perfect display of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Georgia, the cheers
quickly turned to boos. Yes, Carlos Santana was booed on Civil Rights Day in
Atlanta for talking about Civil Rights.
Then in the press box, Santana held an impromptu press conference where he let
loose with an improvised speech to rival one of his virtuoso guitar solos. He
said, "This law is not correct. It's a cruel law, actually, This is about fear.
Stop shucking and jiving. People are afraid we're going to steal your job. No
we aren't. You're not going to change sheets and clean toilets. I would invite
all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really,
really is running the economy. Who cleans the sheets? Who cleans the toilets?
Who babysits? I am here to give voice to the invisible."
He went on to say, "Most people at this point they are either afraid to really
say what needs to be said, this is the United States the land of the free. If
people want the immigration law to keep passing in every state then everybody
should get out and just leave the American Indians here. This is about Civil
Rights."
Where was Bud Selig during all this drama? It seems that Selig slunk out of a
stadium backdoor in the 5th inning. If there is one thing Bud has become an
expert at, it’s ducking his head when the issues of immigration, civil rights,
and Major League Baseball collide. If Selig really gave a damn about Civil
Rights, he would heed the words of Carlos Santana. He would move the 2011
All-Star Game out of Arizona. He would recognize that the sport of Jackie
Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Curt Flood has an obligation to stand for
something more than just using their memory to cover up the injustices of the
present. If Bud Selig cared about Civil Rights, he would above all else, have
to develop something resembling a spine. But if Bud is altogether unfamiliar
with the concept of courage, he received one hell of an object lesson from
Carlos Santana.
Original Page:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/160693/santana-booed-using-baseballs-civil-rights-game-actually-stand-civil-rights
Shared from Read It Later
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Sixties-L" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
