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