Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Here Comes The Anti-Immigrant Suns

The Phoenix Suns will wear "Los Suns" on their jerseys in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals on Wednesday night as a protest against the new Arizona immigration law.

The Stoop believes that the "Los Suns" jersey is an attempt by Suns to distract from the racist, anti-immigrant patterns and practices that the Suns have engaged in and continue to engage in-even in the game against the Spurs where they will wear the "Los Suns" jerseys.

Here is the irrefutable evidence:

First, the Suns have implemented a rule that is strictly enforced that is solely designed to severely limit the number of undocumented persons that can attend the game. That limit is the 20,000 people that the Suns have arbitrarily decided can enter the arena. How can we believe that the Suns support an open border with no restrictions on who enters the country when they themselves put severe restrictions on who can attend the historic Suns-Spurs playoff game? In a state with a population of 480,000 undocumented persons, how can the Suns deny so many hard-working persons of color access to the game? The numbers speak for themselves: the Suns have instituted a policy that will deny more than 99% of undocumented people from attending the game.

But the Suns discrimination does not stop there. An undocumented person attempting to enter the arena will be stopped by the Suns security force that will ask them to produce documentation (a ticket). Doesn't that sound like Nazi Germany? If they do not have the documentation, they will be denied admission. Let me get this straight: the Suns think that you don't have to produce papers to enter the country but they reserve the right to ask EVERY SINGLE person for proper documentation? We all know that undocumented persons rightly are very wary to be put in situations where they are asked to produce documentation. Yet, the Suns management has a zero tolerance policy which requires people to produce proof. Clearly, this is a system designed to severely limit the number of undocumented persons from attending a Suns game. The bottom line is that the Suns are violating the civil rights of people of color by asking them to produce a ticket. They don't want them to attend the game, and the whole "produce a ticket" thing is nothing more than a pretext designed to keep the crowd whiter than Steve Nash. Obviously the Suns have a practice against "ATTENDING THE GAME WHILE LATINO".

Another way the Suns are engaging in civil rights violations is by requiring that undocumented persons pay money for tickets that will gain them admission to the game. We all know that the wages of undocumented persons are much less when compared to American citizens. Yet, the Suns have instituted a practice of charging prices for a ticket that is well beyond the means of the average undocumented person. The prices are so high, the Suns might as well put a neon sign on the marquee: Amigo, Stay Home. Moreover, the Suns have intentionally made the tickets closest to the court the most expensive. Thus, even if a undocumented person can afford to attend the game, it is very likely that the only ticket he could afford will be way up in the rafters. It is the Suns way of putting undocumented persons on the back of the bus. This is economic racism, simple and plain.

Finally, by wearing the "Los Suns" jersey, the Suns are being intolerant of other cultures. In a league where 75% of the players are African-American, why have the Suns never wore a jersey that reflects African-American culture? There is no excuse for such behaviour.

So there we have it. By limiting the number of people who can attend the game, requiring documentation to enter the arena, and engaging in economic racism in pricing the tickets, the Suns have proven to be hostile to the rights of undocumented persons.

And having millionaire players wear a "Los Suns" jersey does nothing to change that.


2 comments:

DMC said...

Those Suns of bitches...You forgot that the Suns and the NBA are also discriminating against undocumented workers by not letting them participate in the game. They actually are requiring them to have certain physical characteristics in order to play. What's the big deal? Are these guys fighting fires or just playing basketball? Anyway, if the Suns were attempting to show the Latino community that they were behind them "100 percent" (Amar'e), the jerseys should have read "Los Soles".

Anonymous said...

Those Suns of bitches...You forgot that the Suns and the NBA are also discriminating against undocumented workers by not letting them participate in the game. They actually are requiring them to have certain physical characteristics in order to play. What's the big deal? Are these guys fighting fires or just playing basketball? Anyway, if the Suns were attempting to show the Latino community that they were behind them "100 percent" (Amar'e), the jerseys should have read "Los Soles". DMC