Arizona knows racial controversy as the last state to recognize Martin Luther King Day in 1992. It took votes, appeals, protests, the NFL moving the Super Bowl XXVII from Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and a strong message from Public Enemy from the track titled “By The Time I Get To Arizona” to finally have Arizona Do The Right Thing.
Fast forward to today and now it’s Gov. Jan Brewer’s new immigration law that basically green lights racial profiling within the Latino community that’s causing a national stir. Despite what B.S. polls say about this bill, people are not happy with this new law and that includes the Phoenix Suns players, management and owner.
This Cinco de Mayo when the Suns take to the court for Game 2 of their series with the San Antonio Spurs, they will be wearing their orange “Los Suns” alternate uniforms that celebrate diversity as a political statement opposing this outrageous new immigration law.
“It’s two-fold,” Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. “One, it is Cinco de Mayo. And, two, it is a political statement. We felt the law, however well intended, was not right. We hear there will be some protesters outside the building,” Kerr said. “From what I gather, there will be a march from a local church to the arena. So there was going to be some hoopla anyway.”
The idea to make a statement came to Suns owner Sarver on a road trip to Portland and then he received approval from the league to make the bold statement. He then asked the players permission to support him on the message and they were 100% in agreeance with the move.
Amare Stoudemire said it was great to “let the Latin community know we’re behind them 100 percent.” While Steve Nash said.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Steve Nash said. “I think the law is very misguided, and unfortunately, to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties. And I think it’s really important for us to stand up for things we believe in . . .
“It doesn’t feel good to have people around the world and around the country look at our state as less than equal, less than fair. So as a proud (resident) of this state, I want us to be held in the highest esteem. I think we have a lot of great attributes and a lot of great people, and I think we need to be very cautious in how we respect our civil liberties, and the tone we’re setting, and the precedent we’re setting going forward.”
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr. “an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere”. Lets hope this show of support against this law brings reason back into play.
To read more about this new immigration law, click here.
