MLB’s racism tarnished the reputations of all the great ballplayers from its early era. Could white hitters like Mel Ott or Stan Musial have hit like the great African American pitcher Satchel Paige? Could a white catcher like Bill Dickey have thrown out a base stealer like the African American speedster Cool Papa Bell? Could African American Josh Gibson hit more home runs than Babe Ruth or Ted Williams? Because of MLB’s racism, we will never know. MLB’s segregation policy prevented them from facing all the best ballplayers of their era.

MLB ignored the demands from the people for equality in the 1930s and 1940s. Communist-led organizations and unions held rallies, gathered petitions and picketed at the MLB ballparks for an end to segregation in baseball. The Daily Worker’s fine sports writer Lester Rodney covered the Negro Leagues as well as MLB. He called for the best ballplayers to be admitted to MLB regardless of race.

MLB has buried this history. The owners want you to think that ‘visionaries like Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey or former MLB Commissioner Ford Frick were the only reason that baseball was integrated. But many MLB owners were hesitant to let the best nonwhite players join their team even after Jackie Robinson in the National League, Larry Doby in the American League and others had broken the color barrier. The first African American ballplayer on Boston Red Sox was Pumpsie Green in 1959. The Red Sox did not have regular nonwhite position players until the mid 1960s.

Fast forward to today’s MLB elite. After years of trying to get everyone to ignore past sins, Commissioner Bud Selig took a new direction. He honored Jackie Robinson by retiring his number 42 from all MLB teams. He embraced the Negro League players, even putting some in the MLB Hall of Fame. Heck that was over 60 years ago. We are more enlightened than that now.

Selig sees new markets for MLB, especially in Japan. Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and other Japanese players are heavily marketed abroad. Caribbean countries like the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have produced great MLB players for decades. Now MLB is testing ways to cash in on its new found internationalism.

But how enlightened are they? MLB has scheduled its All-Star game in Phoenix, Arizona. Furthermore, the MLB franchise in Arizona and its owner, Ken Kendrick, have been major financial contributors for the Republicans responsible for SB1070. But unfortunately for them, that darn immigrant rights movement is challenging MLB to step up to the plate.

Like the radical civil rights leaders in the1930s and 1940s, people from MLB cities across the country have started to protest and demand that the 2011 All-Star game be moved. They want MLB to renounce the racism of SB1070. Protests in Milwaukee, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington D.C. have grabbed many fans’ attention.

Some players who are likely to be chosen to play in the All-Star game, like the Milwaukee Brewer pitcher Yovani Gallardo and San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, have said that they would not attend an All-Star game if it is in Arizona. The outspoken manager of the Chicago White Sox has followed suit and said that he would not attend unless the Arizona laws are changed.

While as many as 30% of MLB ballplayer are from other countries or are of Latin ancestry, this is not about them. This is about racist discrimination and national oppression. This is about one set of laws for some people and another set of laws for other people. It is time for sports fans to stand for full equality for all people.

No matter which team you like, you root for all of the players whether they are black, white, brown, Asian or red. Arizona’s SB1070 is wrong, you know it, I know it and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig knows it. The question is, will MLB back its racist buddies in Arizona or will they take a principled stand?

Foster Richards can be reached at leftsportsrev@yahoo.com

#Arizona #AZ #ImmigrantRights #Sports #CivilRights #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #MajorLeagueBaseball #MLB #BudSelig

This essay was written by one of five people arrested at the Move the Game protest in Minneapolis on August 11, 2010. The protest confronted a meeting of Major League Baseball (MLB) team owners and league Commissioner Bud Selig, demanding that they move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona unless the anti-immigrant law SB1070 is repealed. The essay focuses on part of the arrestees’ jail experience, bringing to light this largely hidden site of large numbers of immigrant deportations.

What city were you born in?

8/12/2010

Minneapolis, MN – Expecting to hear a question about country of origin, I was thrown off. On August 11th, 5 of us had been arrested during a “Move the Game” protest organized by The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) and their Boycott Arizona Minnesota Campaign (BAM!) demanding that the 2011 All-Star Game be moved out of Arizona unless the state repeals it's racist, anti-immigrant law, SB1070. Arrested for attempting to present a 110,000 signature petition to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, during an MLB owners meeting at a downtown Minneapolis hotel, we prepared to refuse to state our birthplace during the booking process in jail, since that question that is used to determine whether someone might be an undocumented immigrant. ICE can then interview people and put them into deportation proceedings.

Given the nature of our initial protest for immigrant rights and our personal political beliefs, we had decided not to answer that question.

I asked if it was necessary to answer that question and was met with a forceful threat that if we did not answer we would be unable to complete the booking process and be returned to the holding cell. That is exactly how the system is arranged. Clerks and deputies shoot off questions at you in order to catch you off guard. It is extraordinarily easy to be lost in the process, and that is used to their advantage.

If these questions were purely used for identification purposes it would be one thing, but files of those who are undocumented are flagged, opening them up to questioning by ICE and the possibility of deportation. Three of us who had not been charged refused to answer any question that inquired about place of birth. We were each held in solitary confinement for varied amounts of time until we agreed to go through with the booking process.

My 12 hours in custody and 6 hours in solitary confinement is nothing compared to the years of separation that families face when a loved one is deported. I do not kid myself that my night and the nights of my fellow protesters in jail will by itself greatly impact the system, but I believe in this movement, in the strong organizers in our communities, and hope to use our story to further the fight for immigrant rights. What happens in jails is largely invisible to the outside world. Yet it is precisely this process of asking a seemingly innocent question about city of birth during the booking process (before people have even been convicted of a crime), that has contributed to the skyrocketing of deportation over the past year under the “Criminal Alien Program”. By telling our story, I hope to shed some light on this largely invisible source of deportations and tearing apart of families, so we can organize to stop it.

Molly Glasgow is a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Righs Action Committee (MIRAc).

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #civilDisobedience #MIRAc #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #BoycottArizonaMinnesota #MajorLeagueBaseball #BudSelig #MoveTheGame #CriminalAlienProgram

Minneapolis, MN – Chanting “Move the game! Move the game!”, 100 immigrants and supporters confronted a meeting of Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig and team owners at a ritzy Minneapolis hotel on August 11, 2010. The protest was part of the national movement demanding that Major League Baseball move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona unless the state repeals its recently passed anti-immigrant law, SB1070. Losing the All Star game would be a big blow to Arizona, resulting in an estimated $60 million loss of revenue. Thirty percent of MLB players are Latino, and many have spoken out against SB1070.

A delegation of five of the protesters – members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) and U of M Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) – entered the hotel where the baseball owners were meeting in an effort to deliver 110,000 petitions directly to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. As the delegation entered the hotel the police quickly handcuffed and arrested them, refusing to let them bring the petitions to Selig. Police also refused to allow Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon, who was present at the protest, to deliver the petitions to Selig in their place. As the five were arrested inside the hotel, the rally outside grew more spirited, with chants of “let them in!” and more chants of “move the game!”

Niger Arevalo of MIRAc spoke about the need to fight racist, anti-immigrant laws like SB1070 in Arizona, and also to fight anti-immigrant laws in Minnesota like HF3830 (the SB1070 copycat bill), 287g, and the recently-passed English-only law in Lino Lakes, MN. Carlos Roa from MoveTheGame.org said, “It is obvious that Commissioner Selig cares more about the profits of baseball than protecting the human and civil rights of players and fans. We won’t rest until Commissioner Selig and MLB team owners stand on the right side of history.” The other speakers at the rally were Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon (Ward 2, Green Party), American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Clyde Bellecourt, and Victor Contreras from Centro Campesino, who mobilized a bus load of people to the protest from Southern Minnesota.

The August 11 protest was organized by MIRAc and the Boycott Arizona-MN (BAM!) campaign. It was endorsed by MoveTheGame.org, Centro Campesino and SEIU Local 26.

Video from the August 11 “Move the Game” Protest (from Twin Cities Indymedia)

#MinneapolisMN #civilDisobedience #MIRAc #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #BAM #BoycottArizonaMinnesota #MajorLeagueBaseball #MLB #BudSelig

Saint Paul, MN – On July 29, the day Arizona’s anti-immigrant law SB1070 took effect, 250 people rallied against it at the State Capitol in St. Paul, MN. This was one of many actions around the country on the national day of action. The rally aimed to keep pressure on for the full repeal of SB1070, and for the repeal of the federal 287g program that allows local police to carry out immigration laws. The rally was held at the state capitol to send a strong message to Minnesota legislators against Minnesota's SB1070 copycat bill, HF3830.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) and the Boycott Arizona Minnesota (BAM!) campaign. Speakers at the rally included Javier Morrillo, President of SEIU Local 26, who made clear that the struggle to stop SB1070 is not over just because of the judge’s temporary injunction against a few parts of the law. In a statement he said, “Judge Bolton's decision demonstrates what we have known all along – a 50-state patchwork of conflicting, costly state laws will not solve our immigration problems.”

Anh Pham of MIRAc spoke at the rally about the history of racism and national oppression against Chicanos and Mexicans in Arizona. She said, “The whole Southwest, including Arizona, was once all part of Mexico until the mid-1800s. After the Mexican-American War, the US gained the northern territories of Mexico, which included the area all the way from Texas to California. It is no joke that for some the border truly did cross them. Now I’m not here to give a history lesson, but when I hear some of the politicians and newscasters talk about ‘illegal aliens’, you would think that one day people woke up to find that Chicanos and Latinos suddenly appeared out of real flying saucers.” Pham also talked about the more recent history of racism in Arizona, like the fact that in the 1980s Arizona was the last state in the country to honor Martin Luther King day as an official holiday.

Marco Davila and Ana Vasquez also spoke, explaining the various anti-immigrant laws and proposals, and laying out the next steps for the immigrant rights movement in Minnesota. It was announced that MIRAc is joining the national protest campaign to pressure Major League Baseball to move the All Star game out of Arizona, with a protest planned for August 11.

A guerrilla theater action was part of the rally, in which four people dressed as emergency public health workers in orange jumpsuits and medical face masks cordoned off the steps of the capitol with “CAUTION” tape, declaring they were quarantining it from the epidemic of anti-immigrant laws around the country. The four then removed the orange jumpsuits to reveal t-shirts underneath with the message “No one is illegal / Ningun ser humano es ilegal”.

The rally was opened up by Mexica dancers from the West Side of St. Paul, and also featured poetry from spoken word artist BUGS of Poetic Assassins, and music by guitarist Kestral.

#SaintPaulMN #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #287g

Minneapolis, MN – The immigrant rights movement scored a victory in Minnesota. Under pressure from a growing boycott and weekly protests, on July 14 the owner of nine local Jimmy John’s sandwich shops in Minneapolis and the western suburbs signed a public statement condemning Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB1070 law and calling for immigration reform.

The statement signed by franchise president Michael Mulligan says, “We reject Arizona's SB1070 and urge the federal government to repeal this misguided law. We support the passage of just and humane comprehensive immigration reform.”

In May the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) initiated the Boycott Arizona-MN (BAM!) campaign to build the Arizona boycott in Minnesota. The first target chosen was Jimmy John's Minneapolis franchise owner, MikLin Enterprises, Inc.

Jimmy John's is one of the companies targeted in the national boycott campaign aimed at repealing Arizona's racist and anti-immigrant law, SB1070. They are targeted because company head Jimmy John Liautaud contributes large amounts of money to anti-immigrant Arizona politicians like Joe Arpaio and John McCain, who are staunch supporters of SB1070.

According to MIRAc member Anh Pham, “This is a victory for the immigrant rights movement. It's the first victory we know of against one of the companies targeted in the national Arizona boycott. We made it happen here through a campaign to get hundreds of Minnesotans to sign a petition pledging to boycott Arizona, and through regular protests in front of Jimmy John's in downtown Minneapolis. We hope this helps open the doors to more such victories around the country to force Arizona to repeal SB1070.”

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #JimmyJohns #BAM #BoycottArizonaMinnesota

Salt Lake City, UT – Taylorsville Park became the site of heated exchange between the right-wing Patrick Henry Caucus picnic and a wide coalition of progressive organizations protesting them, June 4. Gregory Lucero from the Revolutionary Students Union coordinated the protest along with the Autonomous Brown Berets of Salt Lake City. They targeted the Patrick Henry Caucus because it supports bringing the Arizona apartheid immigration bill SB1070 to Utah.

The Patrick Henry Caucus is a far-right branch of the Republican Party, which supports cutting all social welfare programs, militarizing the border and supporting bills which allow for the checking of immigration status for ‘reasonable suspicion.’

Representative Carl Wimmer who supports the Patrick Henry Caucus said, “Illegal is a status, not a race. The Patrick Henry Caucus, in no way, shape or form, supports racial profiling.” Gregory Lucero disagreed stating, “There's no objective criteria by which you could determine or have reasonable suspicion of someone being illegal. In this case, the only criteria that could be used would be coincidental criteria like skin color or voice or accent, which have no legal bearing whatsoever.”

The protesters sought equal rights for all workers and an end to national oppression and discrimination. They chanted slogans such as, “Brown, black, yellow, white, same struggle, same fight.”

Gregory Lucero explained, “You have an extreme double standard here. Capital in the form of investment and industry travels freely to devastate the Mexican economy, but labor is criminalized and restricted as undocumented workers search for a better life.”

Daniel Argueta, a Brown Beret member, chastised Republican Senate hopeful Tim Bridgewater, “Tim, you've got to do what's right regardless of whether its popular with your party – and you know this bill isn't right.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #Utah #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #PatrickHenryCaucus #AutonomousBrownBerets #CarlWimmer

Minneapolis, MN – One June 14, about 30 immigrants and immigrant rights supporters picketed outside of Jimmy Johns sandwich shop at Block E in downtown Minneapolis. Jimmy Johns is one of the companies targeted in the national boycott against Arizona in response to SB1070, the racist anti-immigrant law Arizona passed in April. The protest demanded that Jimmy Johns founder James ‘Jimmy John’ Liautaud stop supporting anti-immigrant politicians in Arizona such as Joe Arpaio and John McCain.

When the protest began, franchise owner Rob Mulligan came out of the store and offered the protesters free sandwiches, which they refused. He then handed out a statement to the protesters which said he respects their right to protest against SB1070, but doesn't want his business to be a target. When pressed on what his position is on SB1070, he said he would sign a petition against SB1070 but only “in a personal capacity.” He also said he'd pass on the protesters' message to the national office.

Prior to the 2008 election, the Liautaud Development Group LLC (which is run by Jimmy John Liautaud) funneled $10,000 to the Sheriff Command Association, which smeared Mayor Joe Arpaio's opponent, Dan Saban. Nationally, Liautaud has funded Senator John McCain, who supports SB1070 (giving him $4600 in 2008), as well as contributing $5000 in 2009 to the Free and Strong America PAC, which contributes to anti-immigrant U.S. Representatives and Senators. Jimmy Johns franchises pay a percentage of their profits to the central company, so money spent at Jimmy Johns in Minnesota is being used to fund anti-immigrant politicians in Arizona who brought forward SB1070 and other anti-immigrant laws.

The Jimmy Johns protest on Monday was part of the Boycott Arizona-Minnesota (BAM!) campaign. BAM! is a campaign of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) to spread the Arizona boycott in Minnesota in response to SB1070, and to fight against similar anti-immigrant laws and proposals in Minnesota. The campaign will continue to target businesses like Jimmy Johns and politicians that support SB1070.

A video from the protest, including an interview with protesters and with the franchise owner , is available here on TheUpTake.org.

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #JimmyJohns #BAM #BoycottArizonaMinnesota

Tucson, AZ – Arizona has seen an explosion of Chicano and Mexicano led student resistance to racist laws and in defense of the right to a quality education. Nowhere is this more evident than in the city of Tucson, which is singled out for attack by racist elements of state government. The struggle has attracted attention across the nation. Since the state House and Senate adopted the anti-immigrant and anti-Latino law, SB1070, thousands of students have walked out of school in protest and there has been a wave of youth-led direct actions.

On May 12, students surrounded the Tucson Unified School District to stop TUSD’s ethnic studies program from being shut down. On May 17, the anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, students from across the country came to occupy the Tucson office of U.S. Senator John McCain to demand passage of the Dream Act, legislation that would give some undocumented students the opportunity to legally pursue higher education. Four of the students were arrested by Tucson police, three of whom were undocumented. After being released from jail, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took the three undocumented students into custody where they are now awaiting deportation.

A human chain of hundreds gathered at a May 12 protest to defend local education from the racist attacks of State Superintendant of Education Tom Horne. Chanting, “Our education is under attack! What do we do? Fight back!” the crowd could be heard blocks away. Those present were mostly Latino, mostly middle and high school students, but with significant multi-ethnic and multi-age support. Students walked out of school, organizing the demonstration in just a couple of hours when they learned that Horne was coming to Tucson. According to some students, he had come “to personally shut down ethnic studies classes.” However, that was one plan Horne had to cancel.

About 400 students walked out in protest. HB2281, which Horne personally authored, is a direct attack on TUSD’s ethnic studies program, which was won through popular struggle over ten years ago. Horne’s law bans ethnic studies and punishes districts in violation of the law by withholding 10% of their budget. TUSD Board member Adelita Grijalva told an April rally, “We have people up there in Phoenix focused on one district…Instead, they should focus on funding the state’s schools!”

TUSD officials had requested Horne’s presence for a private meeting to discuss the new legislation, which goes into effect on Dec. 31. Horne, who is in a primary race for the state’s Attorney General Office, decided to make a statement to the press before leaving for Tucson. In response, TUSD canceled the meeting.

Tucson businessman Raul Aguirre, talking with Fight Back!, compared this legislation with earlier measures such as the English-only bill and bills attacking bilingual education. Addressing the students, Aguirre said, “In a time of a global economy, when people everywhere are talking about getting a global perspective, this is myopic!”

Later that day, around 200 students and allies marched to the state building, where Horne had gone to make yet another public statement. Around 40 people entered and occupied the building, with 15 people arrested before the day was done. Media representatives were physically forced to leave before the arrests were completed, according to videographer Jason Aragones.

HB2281 outlaws programs that are aimed at students of particular ethnicities or that advocate “ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” However, TUSD ethnic studies classes have always been open to and attended by students of any ethnicity. Likewise, students attend and participate in classes ‘individually’ and they are graded ‘individually.’ Revealing the subjective and arbitrary nature of the legislation, its enforcement is left to the State Superintendant’s discretion.

During an interview with CNN later that evening, Horne’s defense of the bill seemed almost paranoid as he denounced the wearing of sunglasses and berets as “revolutionary.” Horne told CNN “…we should be teaching the kids that this is a land of opportunity, and not teach them the downer that they’re oppressed and…they should be angry against their government...I brought in a picture that you might want to show that shows the revolutionary garb that they wore when they protested against my law with masks, sunglasses, berets, brown shirts.”

HB2281 is the first passed of several pending bills that would encode racist measures in Arizona schools. Also under consideration are bills requiring students to prove their citizenship status and for schools to report those without proper documents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The protests and arrests that took place surrounding Horne’s visit are the latest examples of a growing militancy in the Arizona fight back. Mobilizations exploded with the passage in the state house of SB1070, a law that institutionalizes racial profiling. SB1070 gives state law enforcement authority to detain and investigate anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant. In Arizona, that means anyone with brown skin, speaking Spanish. Two days after that vote, the White House carried out a militaristic raid of Latino communities in Arizona by more than 800 ICE agents, with the cooperation of local and state law enforcement. Many local activists saw this as an unspoken endorsement of Arizona’s new policies.

Since then, anti-racist Arizonans have been arrested several times in direct actions, thousands of students have participated in walk-outs and there have been almost daily demonstrations – many days with more than one. On May 7, students, teachers and community members conducted a 24-hour vigil in support of ethnic studies at Tucson High School. Meanwhile, reports came in from the border cities of Nogales and San Luis that on the Mexican side, motorists had shut down the ports of entry in protest. Eyewitnesses say that on the U.S. side, people were getting out of their cars, raising their fists and voices in a show of solidarity.

The four college students arrested on May 17 after the daylong occupation of Senator McCain’s Tucson offices – Lizbeth Mateo, Yahaira Carrillos, Mohammad Abdollahi and Raúl Alcaraz – had ties to Illinois, California, Kansas, Michigan and of course, Arizona. The undocumented protesters, Mateo, Carrillos and Abdollahi are now in custody of ICE. As the students were being taken to jail in a police van, the crowd chanted, “Undocumented! Unafraid!”

Chicano activist César Wolf did a call and response with the crowd:

“Are we going to unite brown people into this movement?”

“Yes!”

“Are we going to unite Mexicans into this movement?”

“Yes!”

“Are we going to unite white people…Asians…our abuelitos…our youth into this movement?”

“Yes!”

Speaking for those arrested, Tanya Unzueta, who has been in the U.S. since the age of ten, said “I am undocumented, living in Chicago. There are four students inside, three of them undocumented. They send a message of love.These students have risked their lives, their education, their freedom. Now it is up to us to make sure they are not forgotten...If they were able to do this, then – what are you going to do?”

As the movement in Arizona grows, supporters across the country are being asked to come to Phoenix on May 29 as part of a national protest against the state’s anti-immigrant laws and to demand an end to federal policies that militarize the border and criminalize undocumented workers. Meanwhile, the summer of 2010 has been declared “Freedom Summer” by several organizations. To learn more about May 29, go to http://altoarizona.com/. Those interested in coming to Southern Arizona to join in solidarity activities this summer can learn more by writing james@afgj.org.

People are also being asked to support the struggle in Arizona by: 1) demanding that the federal government not cooperate with SB1070 and to take quick action to keep it from being implemented, and 2) boycotting Arizona until SB1070 and other anti-immigrant and anti-Latino laws are repealed.

The boycott includes conventions and conferences in Arizona, visits to the state (not including visits to close friends and family or to take part in solidarity actions) and a refusal to patronize the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose owners provide major funding to the Arizona Republican Party and supporters of sb1070.

Sadly, in the midst of these growing mobilizations, another increase is taking place. The number has grown by 60% over last year for undocumented workers dying as they try to cross desert borderlands. Already, the remains of 110 persons have been found. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, over 5000 displaced and undocumented workers have died crossing the US-Mexico desert. They are displaced because of NAFTA provisions that have destroyed rural economies. The situation is worsened by the border’s militarization, forcing workers to cross the most inhospitable and harshest of terrains. (For more information: http://derechoshumanosaz.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=34 .)

If the middle and high school students leading these anti-racist struggles have anything to say about it, these fallen workers will not have died in vain. These students and their allies are organized, fired up and ready for a protracted struggle. Speaking bluntly about “the house that racism has built” one young Chicano activist declared: “We are coming to burn your house down!”

#TucsonAZ #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070

On Thursday, the Los Angeles City council passed a motion to officially boycott the State of Arizona. Arizona’s new racist law SB1070 targets Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people for harassment. From California, right across the country, many people are outraged. Under the new Arizona law, local police will have the power to harass and arrest people based on immigration status. This will increase the already existing racist harassment and arrest of Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people. Many police, including the police chief of Tucson, AZ, publicly oppose the law because of the burden it places on them and because it promotes racial profiling.

The Los Angeles City Hall council chamber was filled with workers from SEIU 1877 representing janitors, and with workers organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and immigrants’ rights activists of the Coalition for Humane Immigrants’ Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). The motion introduced by Councilman Reyes, a Chicano from the Northeast Los Angeles area, was voted “Yes” by 12 council members, except for the one Republican. The main message was that we need immigration reform now at the Federal level to prevent more racist laws of the type in Arizona. The struggle for full equality and legalization continues to sharpen in the Southwest and throughout the country.

#LosAngelesCA #AsianNationalities #ChicanoLatino #IndigenousPeoples #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #LosAngelesCityCouncil

St. Paul, MN – On May 6, Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha) introduced a bill in the Minnesota House of Representatives that would bring Arizona's new racist anti-immigrant law SB 1070 to Minnesota. This comes on the heels of Minnesota Republican Gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer saying he thinks Arizona's racist law is “wonderful”.

Rep. Drazkowski's Minnesota bill imitates the Arizona law which institutionalizes racial profiling, by mandating local police to check proof of citizenship of anyone they encounter who they think might be undocumented. So in Arizona, anyone who the police might think looks Latino must now carry their identity documents with them at all times or be immediately suspect and subject to police harassment and arrest. Many people have compared Arizona's new law to the Pass Laws in South Africa under apartheid. Those laws required Black South Africans to carry their pass books with them whenever they left their ‘designated’ areas. If they didn't produce a pass, they were subject to immediate arrest. There are also many comparisons to the Jim Crow segregation laws in the U.S. South.

Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070, the most extreme anti-immigrant legislation in the country, into law in Arizona on April 23, provoking large protests in Arizona, outrage around the country, and a growing boycott of Arizona until the law is repealed. This year's May 1 demonstrations around the country, coming just a week after SB 1070 was signed, were notably larger than recent years, with a central message being a sharp rejection of SB 1070. Showing the depth of the movement, in an unprecedented action the National Basketball Association (NBA) team from Arizona, the Phoenix Suns, made a strong political statement as a team against SB 1070 by changing their jerseys to read “Los Suns” in solidarity with Latinos in the state in their opening playoff game. Before the game they held a press conference to explain this bold anti-racist action against their own state government.

In respose to Rep. Drazkowski trying to copy the Arizona bill in Minnesota, local immigrant rights leader Francisco Segovia said, “Martin Luther King said that he had a dream, and when we see these congresspeople in Minnesota doing this, here it's not going to be a dream but a nightmare, a nightmare directly against the spirit of Martin Luther King. In Minnesota we won't rest or allow this archaic thinking to get established here. Millions of Minnesotans don't share this racial way of thinking. We're going to get out in the streets to protest, and if they pass a bill like that here there will be boycotts, like there are against Arizona right now. We won't allow these congresspeople to turn Minnesota into a 21st century apartheid state. We call on everyone in Minnesota to speak out against this.”

#SaintPaulMN #Apartheid #SB1070 #Arizona #BoycottArizona #RepSteveDrazkowski

On Friday, April 23rd, Republican Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed SB1070. This law makes it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant and requires police to stop and arrest people who they suspect of being undocumented. While the law will not go into effect for more than three months, some police and sheriffs in Arizona are already stopping and arresting Latinos, including native-born citizens.

This law legalizes racial profiling of Latinos and Native Americans and is a step back to the days of Jim Crow segregation in the South when African Americans were second-class citizens. It is a green light to racist police to unleash terror among Chicanos, Mexicanos, Central Americans and indeed anyone who looks Latino, speaks with an accent, or is otherwise “suspicious.”

SB1070 is part of a right-wing offensive against the “Browning of America.” It is an intensification of oppression of Chicanos and Mexicanos. Thirty percent of Arizona’s population is now Chicano and Mexicano. Together with Native Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans, oppressed nationalities and indigenous people make up 45% of Arizona. Immigration from Mexico and Central America is making the Chicano Nation stronger. The Chicano people of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas have been forged into a nation through their history of racist oppression and economic exploitation in the Southwest. This nation has a right to self-determination.

The Chicano people have a history of fighting back. The struggle of Chicano mine workers for equality and the struggle of Chicana women for equal participation in the movement was dramatized in 1954 classic “Salt of the Earth.” In the 1960s, the fight of Chicano, Mexicano, and Filipino farm workers to unionize mobilized support from across the nation. Chicano youth walked out of their high schools in the 1960s to protest their inferior education, and in 1970s tens of thousands of Chicanos marched in the Chicano Moratorium in East Los Angeles, the single largest protest against the war in Vietnam in an oppressed nationality community.

Five years ago the racist Sensenbrenner bill, HR4437, that would have criminalized the undocumented, passed the Republican controlled House of Representatives. In response, more than a million people, mainly Chicano, Mexicano, and Central American, poured into the streets on May 1, 2006 to protest this bill, demand legalization and a stop to raids and deportations.

Today, outrage about the racist SB1070 is also inspiring a wave of people’s struggle. High school students have walked out their classes and there are almost daily protests around Arizona. There is a broad call for people outside of Arizona to boycott the state and its leading businesses. Many people recall the boycott of Arizona called by African Americans over the states refusal to recognize the Martin Luther King, Junior birthday as a legal holiday.

May 1 is a day of struggle for immigrant rights. Freedom Road Socialist Organization will raise the following slogans:

• Legalization not Raids and Deportations!
• Expand Legal Immigration and No Guest Worker Program!
• Stop the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border!
• Full Equality for the Chicanos, Mexicanos, and Central Americans!
• Self-determination for the Chicano Nation!
• And last but not least: BOYCOTT ARIZONA!

#UnitedStates #Editorials #ChicanoLatino #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #SB1070 #BoycottArizona