Go Green Celebrities!
Carlos Santana immigration law rant at ballgame hits home run?
[May 16]
Going green as a Hollywood celebrity involved being more than eco friendly. It also includes a component of humanitarianism. Musician Carlos Santana showed he has good will game when he hit a home run with statements he made at a baseball game. In fornt of a crowd while winning an award, he voiced a very candid and spot on opinion about immigration law, knocking his point out of the park by making a great call. As a well-known and beloved Latin American performer, Carlos Santana was given the Beacon of Change award before the Atlanta Braves’ fifth annual Civil Rights Game on Sunday May 15. While the team focused on their game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Santana used the public speaking opportunity during his award acceptance speech to criticize both residents and politicians of Arizona and Georgia for their new immigration laws. Saying he represented illegal immigrants and was speaking out on behalf of them as well as legal immigrants like himself, the Grammy award-winning artist told the crowd at Turner field, “The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Yeah. He said it and did not mince his words — and how.
The Washington Post reports:
On Friday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill that requires many employers to check the immigration status of new hires and authorizes law enforcement officers to check the status of some suspects. The law, one of the toughest in the nation, is similar in some respects to one enacted last year in Arizona.
“This law is not correct. It’s a cruel law, actually,” Santana, who emigrated to San Francisco in the 1960s, said after the ceremony. “This is about fear. Stop shucking and jiving. People are afraid we’re going to steal your job. No, we aren’t. You’re not going to change sheets and clean toilets. …
“This is the United States. This is the land of the free. If people want the immigration laws to keep passing, then everybody should get out and leave the American Indians here.”
To that we point, send a resounding clap of applause.
GREEN CELEBRITY STATS: CARLOS SANTANA
Who is Carlos Santana? He is a talented musician and political activist who advocates for the Latin American community, a variety of youth organizations, and does charity benefit fund raising for humanitarian causes such as AIDS relief and cure medical charity. Carlos and his wife Deborah Santana founded the Milagro Foundation to help impoverished youth with education and he has donated music equipment to students at Little Kids Rock [via Look To The Stars]. For more infromation about his activities, including new album releases and live perfromance concert tours, visit his official website at http://www.santana.com.