MLB Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig, seen here praying that this all goes away without having to take a side.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig finally responded to requests by the MLB Players Association and by a New York congressman, whose district includes Yankee Stadium, to remove the 2011 All-Star game from Phoenix due to the racist immigration laws recently passed in Arizona. His response? That the game shouldn’t be moved because baseball has such a great track record on racial issues. What??? I get that baseball has been on the forefront of a lot of our country’s social change, and that significance should not be underestimated, but does that mean that they should be able to sit this one out and reflect on past accomplishments in racial harmony?
This wouldn’t even be the first time a sporting event had to be moved out of Arizona due to the state’s racial intolerance, either. In 1991, the NFL removed the 1993 Superbowl from Sun Devil Stadium due to the Arizona governor’s repeal of Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday. The NFL players union decided that since a large portion of their league was made up of African-Americans that it would be unconscionable to make them play in an environment which openly disrespected their fight for equal rights in this country. So the Superbowl, the biggest single sporting event on the planet, was taken away from Arizona and moved to a place that would respect their players.
Now MLB is asking their players, 30% of whom are immigrants from Latin-American countries, to play the All-Star game in a state that requires their police officers to demand immigration papers from anyone who they might suspect of being an illegal immigrant. Now, the bill specifically states that police officers should not use racial profiling in enforcing this law. Great, Arizona, we’re so glad you made that clear. That law sounds just fine now that you said they shouldn’t racially profile. But simply saying that it isn’t racial profiling for police to stop anyone who may look like an illegal immigrant and violating the Bill of Rights anytime they stop a citizen who has committed no crime other than being poor and brown-skinned is like a guy calling “no homo” right before engaging in anal sex. Just because you say the opposite of what you’re doing while you do it doesn’t change the nature of the act itself.
Now, the MLB Players Association is easily the most powerful union in America, and if they vote that they won’t play in that All-Star game then it will either A) be enough to move the game elsewhere, or B) will put significant pressure on the state of Arizona, due to loss of tourism dollars, that they might repeal the law before it comes to that. So there is a good chance of either of those scenarios happening. On top of that, the Diamondback’s owner, whose team plays in that very stadium, has already come out against this law, and he’s now put in a very precarious position given his desire to host the game while openly opposing this bill. And he’s left hanging on what can be done about it.
So even though the players, several managers, Arizona’s team owner, and fans across all of baseball want to take a stand against Arizona’s racist laws, the Commissioner thinks that the best approach is to ignore the problem and hope the whole thing blows over. And he might get his wish. By July of 2011 the law might already be abolished. But by refusing to take a stand against these laws, for once Major League Baseball is lagging behind the rest of the country on a civil rights issue, and it’s being held back by a man who just two months ago was given a lifetime achievement award from the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Baffling.
Subscribe