Arizona has been turning some heads lately with the passage of controversial immigration law that requires immigrant residents to carry documents, verifying their status.
Local Democrats have teamed up with local businesses and activist groups to protest the seemingly racial profiling law, but they aren’t fighting alone. The hip-hop community has taken up the issue as well.
Public Enemy rapper, Chuck D, released “Tear Down That Wall” enraged by the passage of the law. His wife, a professor of Black and Chicano studies at UC Santa Barbara also expressed her sentiments.
“Jan Brewer’s decision to sign the Arizona immigration bill into law is racist, deceitful and reflects some of the most mean-spirited politics against immigrants that the country has ever seen,” Chuck D and wife Dr.
Theresa Johnson said in a statement. “The power that this law gives to police, to detain people that they suspect to be undocumented, brings racial profiling to a new low.”
This isn’t the first time D has vocalized his disgust with Arizona. In ‘91, he condemned the state for government officials refusing to acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a federal holiday. Now he is encouraging businesses to boycott Arizona.
“These actions must stop. I am issuing a call to action, urging my fellow musicians, artists, athletes, perfumers and production companies to refuse to work in Arizona until officials not only overturn this bill, but recognize the human rights of immigrants,” he said, according to TheBoomBox. “This should include theNBA playoffs, revisiting the actions of the NFL in 1993, when they moved the Super Bowl to Pasadena in protest against Arizona’s refusal to recognize Dr. King. We all need to speak up in defense of our brothers and sisters being victimized in Arizona because things are only getting worse. What they’re
doing to immigrants is appalling, but it will be even more damning if we remain silent.”
Meanwhile, MLB fans are urging the league relocate the 2011 All-Star Game from Phoenix and moving spring training from Arizona’s Cactus League.
