It’s been pointed out in comments that it’s difficult to find ways to punish Arizona for instituting an openly racist law.
You can’t boycott Arizona, it doesn’t produce anything you can buy or not buy. Other than copper, its economy is largely tourism and real estate. According to Wikipedia, the state’s largest employer is the state, and the largest private employer is Wal-Mart. This is probably diagnostic in and of itself.
But the discussion suggested the oddity of such a straightforward racial-profiling law in a state where baseball’s many Caribbean and Central and South American players spend spring training. Some of them are probably American citizens, but in crummy jeans might look like illegal immigrants, which as I understand it means the cops must stop them and ask for papers. If a baseball star who’s a citizen has to carry papers or get arrested, it’ll be a national story and a worldwide joke.
Not that a bunch of Wal-Mart workers necessarily care. The polls appear to show about 70% of Arizona in favor of the law. So is there any way to express displeasure beyond not visiting a state that’s way too hot in summer and unbelievably cold in winter, with an enormous amount of desert the year round?
For baseball fans, you could sacrifice spring training. Email the President of the Cactus League, Robert Brinton, at robert@cactusleague.com, and Catrina Knoebl, Media and Sponsorships, catrina@cactusleague.com. Get in touch with your local team if they train in Arizona and let them know you won’t be coming to see them until the situation changes.
Cactus League teams: Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers.
I looked around MLB.com, but a search for the word “fans” fails; they have contact info for customers and business partners. Again, diagnostic.
I don’t recommend angry missives, but aggrieved and saddened letters regretting a beautiful spring that might have been. With my family it’s actually true; we’d been talking about meeting somewhere for a vacation in the next year and spring training came up, as we’re all Cincinnati fans and we wanted to see their new digs. So MLB doesn’t know it, but our threat will certainly be carried out.
Do I think Arizona or MLB cares about institutionalized racism? Of course not. This is by no means the first engagement of either with the heinous and ridiculous. Since the state produces nothing we can boycott, we need a pressure point, and that can be generated through media attention. Baseball is one. And courtesy of Martha Bridegam, so are the members of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.
Arizona can pass race base laws, pass Birthers laws and the state can continue to boycott Martin Luther King Day, well the rest of the Country can boycott the state of Arizona and spank them where it hurts them the most their pocket book. Their phony patriotism is sickening, they are just racists going by another name. We all know you are just itching to put a sheet on their head? Let’s face it the Republicans had eight years to deal with health care, immigration, climate change and financial oversight and governance and they failed. It appears that the Republican Party is only good at starting wars (two in eight years, with fat contracts to friends of Cheney/Bush) but not at winning wars as seen by the continuing line of body bags that keep coming home. The Republicans party will continue turned inward to their old fashion obstructionist party (and their Confederacy appreciation roots) because they continue to allow a small portions (but very loud portion) of their party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” to rule their party. I will admit that this fringe is very good at playing “Follow the Leader” by listening to their dullard leaders, Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush, Savage, Sarah Bailin, Orly Taitz, Victoria Jackson, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Blowhards and acting as ill programmed robots (they have already acted against doctors that perform abortions). The Birthers and the Tea party crowd think they can scare, intimidate and force others to go along with them by comments like “This time we came unarmed”, let me tell you something not all ex-military join the fringe militia crazies who don’t pay taxes and run around with face paint in the parks playing commando, the majority are mature and understand that the world is more complicated and grey than the black and white that these simpleton make it out to be and that my friend is the point. The world is complicated and people like Hamilton, Lincoln, and Roosevelt believed that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now it’s about dancing around the claim of government is the problem. The sainted Reagan passed the biggest tax increase in American history and as a result federal employment increased, but facts are lost when mired in mysticism and superstition. For a party that gave us Abraham Lincoln, it is tragic that the ranks are filled with too many empty suits and the crazy Birthers who have not learned that the way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked internet lies, then, and only then, do you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called “facts”. Let’s face it no one will take the Birthers seriously until they win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. I heard that Orly Taitz now wants to investigate the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC), she wants to re-establish a family values party, that’s like saying that the Catholic Church cares about the welling being of children in their care, too late for that.
Posted by: Montana on April 26, 2010 12:25 PMWhat's this business about Arizona not having any companies to boycott.
Here's a fine list from Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arizona_companies
Posted by: on April 26, 2010 3:30 PMI've known since this started up that there was something that I needed to do.
I have some stuff in storage in Phoenix. I just sent an email to the managers to throw the stuff out, that I won't pay another penny to any organization in Arizona.
Posted by: evil is evil on April 26, 2010 4:06 PM