Tell MLB Commissioner Bud Selig We Are All-Stars

White Ribbon On Tuesday July 12, millions of Latino baseball fans will watch with pride as players with names like Gonzalez, Ortiz, and Reyes take the field at the 82nd Annual All-Star Game. But as the camera pans across Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, it will also be a painful reminder that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig failed to stand up for his Latino players, coaches, and fans by not speaking out against SB 1070.

Nearly one-third of baseball’s players are Latino. Without them, no team can compete in the major or minor leagues. Millions of Hispanic fans buy tickets and spend millions of dollars each year at the ballpark. And these millions of people are at risk of harassment and abuse in Arizona simply because of the way they look or sound. The solution for Selig should be as simple as two plus two: a place inhospitable to Latinos is a place inhospitable to baseball.

Yet from baseball’s top official there has been only a deafening silence.

It’s not too late. Selig can still use the opportunity at one of baseball’s most high-profile events—the Mid-Summer Classic—to bring attention to this issue. He could denounce what’s going on in Arizona, or he could wear a white ribbon in support of the peaceful protest being organized by the Unite Arizona: We Are All-Stars campaign.

Send Selig a virtual white ribbon and demand that he break his silence and speak up for the civil rights of all of the league’s players!

Thanks for reminding baseball that although the game will be played in Arizona, we haven’t forgotten!

Subject:

Your Letter:

Dear Mr. Selig:

I write to ask you to break your silence on one of today’s most pressing civil rights issues and wear a White Ribbon in support of Arizona’s Latino community.

Since the signing of SB 1070, Arizona’s draconian anti-immigrant legislation, thousands of people have taken a stand against this divisive bill.  Dozens of civil rights, faith, and labor organizations called for a boycott of the state, which resulted in many conventions and conferences cancelling their plans to come to Arizona.  Thousands of people asked you to do the same with the 2011 MLB All-Star Game, but you have remained silent.

Individuals like Dolores Huerta, Carlos Santana, and Marc Morial lent their voices to this issue at MLB’s own Civil Rights Game in Atlanta in May.  They know that SB 1070 is wrong and staying silent against it even worse.  Though the law is currently tied up in courts, the assault on Hispanics in Arizona continues.  Nearly one-third of baseball’s players are Latino.  Without them, no team can compete in the major or minor leagues.  Millions of Hispanic fans buy tickets and spend millions of dollars each year at the ballpark, and they are all at risk of harassment and abuse in Arizona simply because of the way they look or sound.

Baseball is a game that transcends barriers and brings America together, and the MLB has a rich history of demonstrating leadership around civil rights issues.  But the work did not end in the 1960s and ’70s—it continues today, and Arizona is ground zero for a serious civil rights struggle.  America needs you to raise your voice.

It’s not too late for you to break your silence.  While in Arizona for the All-Star Game, you can denounce SB 1070 and its attack on Latinos.  You can also wear a white ribbon, like the one included here, http://action.nclr.org/images/ribbon7a.jpg, in support of the thoughtful dialogue on immigration being organized locally by the Unite Arizona coalition.  Please contact Luis Avila, Chair of Somos America, at LuisavilaNews@gmail.com.

Now more than ever, it is urgent that you send a message that baseball will not endorse intolerance.  Baseball’s number of Latino players and fans continues to grow each year; please don’t turn your back on us as this issue unfolds.

Sincerely,

Bud Selig

MLB Commissioner

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