Protesting the MLB, Group Says Selig Should ‘Stand Up’ for Latino Ball Players

Alejandra Valenzuela, 17, moved to Arizona from Mexico when she was seven. Last week, during her first trip to Washington, D.C., Valenzuela and 13 others rotated between the White House and the Capitol to protest SB 1070, the state law that makes it a misdemeanor for an undocumented person to be in Arizona. Among the activities on Thursday, Valenzuela and her fellow Arizonans, some of whom spoke little English, protested at the Major League Baseball lobbyist, Baker and Hostetler, in Washington, D.C., where they went to chant slogans in the halls of the 11th floor and unsuccessfully demanded a meeting with Bud Selig, commissioner of the MLB.

Reform Immigration for America (RIFA), the group that organized the MLB protest, is taking their strategy from the protest directed at the NFL. In 1988, the NFL pulled the Superbowl from Phoenix, Ariz., then the new home of the Phoenix Cardinals and awarded it to Pasadena, Calif. Under pressure from protesters and the NFL Players’ Association, the NFL insisted that it wouldn’t hold a Superbowl in Arizona until Martin Luther King Jr Day – which became a federal holiday in 1986 — was recognized by the state’s legislature. Facing another Superbowl boycott in 1992, Arizonans finally voted to honor the holiday, and in 1996, the NFL held the Superbowl in Tempe, Ariz.

"Major League Baseball and Commissioner Selig should stand up for the hundreds of players who form the backbone of today's game, yet whose appearance and last names put them at risk of being stopped by law enforcement every time they play in Arizona," says Rich Stolz, campaign manager for RIFA. "Holding the 2011 All-Star Game in a state where players and their families, as well as fans, are not welcome is an insult to the millions of fans and consumers who embrace baseball as our national pastime. Having the game in Phoenix also shows a lack of support to the thirty percent of major league baseball players who are Latino."

Meghan McNamara, district director for RIFA, hopes the MLB will move the 2011 All Star Game out of Arizona, which would cost Arizona an estimated $60 million dollars.

“[The MLB] hasn't met with us yet. They are refusing to take a stance,” McNamara said. “That's why we're doing this.” MLB did not return phone calls concerning the day’s protests.

Colorlines Magazine reports that several Latino baseball players have threatened to boycott the All Star Game. Additionally, the union that represents most MLB players has condemned the Arizona law, which goes into effect on July 29.

Ray Nowakowski, who attended the MLB protest in Washington, was born in Detroit, Mich., and moved to Arizona in 1966 after serving in Vietnam. He says the political climate started to change eight years ago, when Arizona barred teaching English as a Second Language in schools. In 2007, the Legal Arizona Workers Act was passed, making it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers.

“The first laws they enacted were small; they only affected employers or kids going to school,” Nowakowski says. “But now, this affects everyone that looks Hispanic or Latino. Obama was in the background, but now he is taking charge.”

"They say, 'We're taking back our country, one state at a time,' but who are they taking it back from? Latinos? We haven't taken over anything,” Nowakowski says.

And as for Valenzuela, despite the threat of being deported under SB 1070, she has no plans to leave Arizona. Valenzuela attended a U.S. elementary, middle, and high school, and recently graduated from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix. She says that she is not a citizen, but adds that she’s not afraid of coming forward. “If everyone is scared, who is going to speak out?”

“I have friends who have gone back to Mexico because their parents were not citizens,” Valenzuela says. “They wanted to stay here, but would have had no way to support themselves. I won't stay quiet.”

She considers Arizona home, even though the state does not recognize her as a resident. And because of this, although she’s lived in Arizona for most of her life, she’s ineligible for many benefits that citizens receive.

Valenzuela says she plans on attending Grand Canyon University in the fall, a private Christian school, where she hopes to study pre-law and mass communication. She said a big factor in her choice was tuition costs. “The tuition is the same for in-state and out-of-state. If I had gone to a state college, even though I've lived here for most of my life, I would've had to pay out-of-state tuition because I'm undocumented.”

Despite the lack of support, Valenzuela is channeling her energy. “It's awful when people tell you to go back to your country, that you're a criminal, that you don't belong. It makes you sad and angry, but you have to take that anger and put heart into it.”

Lisa Gillespie is a former staff writer for Campus Progress as well as the Managing Editor & New Media Director at Street Sense. She graduated from the University of North Carolina–Asheville.