In an extremely bold move, the Phoenix Suns as an organization made a strong political statement in opposition to the recent Arizona immigration bill.How is that an "extremely bold move"? Maybe defying 70% of the population that supports the law would be somewhat bold, but for a bunch of millionaires to make a silly statement like this doesn't really mean much.
Discussions on taking action began last week after the bill passed, with an idea that came from Robert Sarver, Managing Partner of the Phoenix Suns.
According to Steve Kerr, the team discussed it internally before going to the league for approval to both wear the 'Los Suns' jerseys, but also to come out publicly in this way.
Kerr said both the NBA and the San Antonio Spurs were fully supportive of the Suns move.
Ultimately, the decision was left up to the players, but in a locker room led by Steve Nash, it is no surprise how that turned out.
"I think the law is very misguided. I think it is unfortunately to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties and I think it is very important for us to stand up for things we believe in," Nash said of the bill. "I think the law obviously can target opportunities for racial profiling. Things we don't want to see and don't need to see in 2010."
If "Los Suns" really want to make a statement maybe they should look at the number of Hispanic players on their team. Are their any? Not that I'm aware of. If they want to make "bold statement" why don't they configure their roster to match the racial make-up of Arizona.
Surely there's some guy named Jose' with a decent jump shot.
Posts
2 comments:
I allow myself to be labeled "conservative" for people who can not think without labels, and because I can't think of an other label to allow.
But if you think you know what "a conservative" is thinking you know what I am is certain error.
I think conservatives are making a huge mistake when they make language spoken" such a huge "deal".
Sure, there are lots of people all along the border with Mexico that routinely speak in Spanish, and sure that causes me some difficulty.
But there are people all around here (in the middle--flyover country--the flat lands) that speak German, Danish, Bohemian, I don't know what all.
Because most of the road signage is in English (a good idea) and is several languages (where there is an economic or social benefit) I get along.
But there are places all across the South where the people speak English (or tell me the do) where I can't understand them, or them, me any better that in Laredo.
There areas along the Canadian border where I'm told that they speak English, but I might as well be in Tempe. And _in_ Canada I am completely lost--they by law are bi-lingual, but I don't know, based on day-to-day dealings, which two they use.
I believe the people around Boston claim to be the archetype for Patriotic Americans, but if they don't write it down, I have no clue as to what they are saying, and apparently what I speak must sound like Swahili to them.
People, the issues of illegal immigration are whole contained in the first ENGLISH word of the pair.
And as long as we won't do anything about the making the PROCESS (and I'm talking about the years of paperwork and bureaucracy and un-necessary folderol, not "amnesty" or "open borders"[1] here) we are not helping the problem by focusing on language as if it were the key to the problem.[2]
[1] "open borders" is now a emotional buzz-phrase (code phrase?) now that I don't know how to approach it, but we used to have what I would have called an "open border" between Alaska and Canada that seemed to work pretty well. The same seemed to be true with the rest of Canada unless a Francophone was involved.
[2] As I was writing, it occurred to me that my Bible reading must be rustier than I am willing to admit (and I am willing to admit that it is pretty rusty as compared to what it should be) because I don't remember m ch mention of language as a reason to dislike people. (I can't remember a commandment to dislike any people.....)
"Los Suns" doesn't even make sense. According to my translator, "The Suns" is "Los Soles" in Spanish. But I think even the owner of the team would hesitate to have "Soles" on the jerseys of the players.
Post a Comment