to say teenage wizards of poetry, the Get Lit Players will also
be there. Though we 'discovered' them a year ago, it was by
reading a front page article in the LA Times Entertainment section.
We contacted them, found kinship and have had the pleasure of
their poetry at several of our community concerts. Enough to say
that invariably, every kid, from todlers though teenagers thronged
to the foot of the stage. They'll work their magic, from Shakespeare
to their own at BOOTH Number 653, Zone: F, and offer cd's, t-shirts, etc.
Photo's and more information are in the attached.
The Ash Grove/Skylight Books booth is #315, Zone C, facing
Powell Library and adjoining Matt Groening's Hidy-Ho/Bongo booth.
We'll offer live flamenco, community singing, country and, hopefully,
blues, as well as conversation and fliers. Some T-shirts, too.
Ed
From: Dave Zirin
April 23, 2010 4:44 PM
No One is Illegal: Boycott the Arizona Diamondbacks
'John McCain "understood" why it was being passed because
"the drivers of cars with illegals in it [that] are intentionally
causing accidents on the freeway."
By Dave Zirin,
Gonna find a way
Make the state pay
Lookin' for the day
Hard as it seems
This ain't no damn dream
Gotta know what I mean
It's team against team—Public Enemy, By the Time I Get to Arizona
This will be the last column I write about the Arizona Diamondbacks in the
foreseeable future. For me, they do not exist. They will continue to not
exist in my mind as long as the horribly named "Support Our Law Enforcement
and Safe Neighborhoods Act" remains law in Arizona. This law has brought
echoes of apartheid to the state.
One Democratic lawmaker has said that it has made Arizona a "laughingstock"
but it's difficult to find an ounce of humor in this kind of venal
legislation. The law makes it a crime to walk the streets without clutching
your passport, green card, visa, or state I.D. It not only empowers but
absolutely requires cops to demand paperwork if they so much as suspect a
person of being undocumented. A citizen can, in fact, sue any police officer
they see not harassing suspected immigrants. The bill would also make it a
class one misdemeanor for anyone to "pick up passengers for work" if their
vehicle blocks traffic. And it makes a second violation of any aspect of the
law a felony.
In response, Representative Raul Grijalva, who's from Arizona itself, has
called for a national boycott against the state, saying, "Do not vacation
and or retire there." He got so many hateful threats this week that he had
to close his Arizona offices at noon on Friday.
Many of us aren't in either the imminent vacation or retirement mode. We do,
however, live in baseball cities where the Arizona Diamondbacks comes to
play.
When they arrive in my hometown in D.C., my back will be turned, and my
television will be off. This is not merely because they happen to be the
team from Arizona. The D-backs organization is a primary funder of the state
Republican Party, which has been driving the measure through the
legislature.
As the official Arizona Diamondbacks boycott call states, "In 2010, the
National Republican Senatorial Committee's third highest Contributor was the
[executives of the] Arizona Diamondbacks, who gave $121,600; furthermore,
they also contributed $129,500, which ranked as the eighteenth highest
contribution to the Republican Party Committee." The team's big boss, Ken
Kendrick, and his family members, E. G. Kendrick Sr. and Randy Kendrick,
made contributions to the Republicans totaling a staggering $1,023,527. The
Kendricks follow in the footsteps of team founder and former owner Jerry
Colangelo. Colangelo, along with other baseball executives and ex-players,
launched a group called Battin' 1000: a national campaign that uses baseball
memorabilia to raise funds for a Campus for Life, the largest anti-choice
student network in the country. Colangelo was also deputy chair of
Bush/Cheney 2004 in Arizona, and his deep pockets created what was called
the Presidential Prayer Team—a private evangelical group that claims to have
signed up more than 1 million people to drop to their knees and pray daily
for Bush.
Under Colangelo, John McCain also owned a piece of the team. The former
maverick said before the bill's passage that he "understood" why it was
being passed because "the drivers of cars with illegals in it [that] are
intentionally causing accidents on the freeway."
This is who the Arizona Diamondback executives are. This is the tradition
they stand in.
The Diamondbacks' owners have every right to their politics, and if we
policed the political proclivities of every owner's box there might not be
anyone left to root for (except for the Green Bay Packers, who don't have an
owner's box). But this is different. The law is an open invitation to racial
profiling and harassment. The boycott call is coming from inside the state.
If the owners of the Diamondbacks want to underwrite an ugly edge of
bigotry, we should raise our collective sporting fists against them. A
boycott is also an expression of solidarity with Diamondback players such as
Juan Guitterez, Gerardo Parra, and Rodrigo Lopez. They shouldn't be put in a
position where they're cheered on the playing field and then asked for their
papers when the uniform comes off.
[Dave Zirin is the author of the forthcoming "Bad Sports: How Owners are
Ruining the Games we Love" (Scribner) Receive his column every week by
emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.]
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