Carlos Santana takes on Atlanta’s baseball fans to their faces, literally, and gets booed.
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May 17, 2011 at 5:57 am
moviedad
Great American, we need more like him. It took an incredible amount of bravery to speak like that to his hosts. It also took a lot of righteous arrogance. But those are his people being directly effected by anti-immigration law.
May 17, 2011 at 7:58 am
Bruce Ross
From Mr. Mirin’s piece:
Then Santana added, “The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.” In a perfect display of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Georgia, the cheers quickly turned to boos. Yes, Carlos Santana was booed on Civil Rights Day in Atlanta for talking about Civil Rights.
The implication seems to be that the audience is a crowd of bigots and racists because they booed the celebrity guest who just stood up and insulted them. Exactly how does he think fans would react at a Giants game in Jerry Brown’s California?
I might be clueless, though: Was Carlos Santana known as a civil-rights leader as well as a rockstar?
May 17, 2011 at 8:01 am
Bolithio
Wow. Im a big baseball fan, and this was an interesting moment for baseball. Considering how baseball helped pave the way for civil rights in many ways, its very disappointing to think that baseball is loosing its class. Atlanta as a choice for this event was a huge oversight as the author pointed out. I dont believe that Selig is racist, or even prejudice, but clearly not up on social issues.
Latinos make up over 30% of major and minor league baseball, and some of the top paid players are Latino. Five of the braves 25 man roster are latino. Three of those players are making over 3 million a year – meaning they are serious stars. (i.e. Pedro Martinez, Alex Gonzalez) What where the Atlanta fans thinking? Those players make your team good!
Baseball was terrible for blacks in the early days, but the Jackie Robinsons emerged from the abyss and lead their people to a position of respect, and over time they became fixtures of what some of us hold to be the true American Values. But that was a time when baseball was still a game, not a trillion dollar institution. Do the fans in Atlanta realize that MLB spends millions of dollars a year sending baseball scouts to all parts of the Latin world looking for the next Albert Pujols?
I wouldn’t expect much from Atlanta. So I think I can speak with truth, and pride, when I say that; that would have never happened in Giants Stadium.
May 17, 2011 at 8:20 am
Eric Kirk
Bruce – you’re right, and in fact I think he got the response he expected. I just don’t think he cares. I agree that the Nation article makes him out to be a victim, when I doubt he even sees it that way himself.
One correction though – he didn’t call them racists. He said they should be ashamed of themselves, which implies they aren’t, and should know better than to have supported those measures.
To answer your question, he was only a teenager when the Civil Rights Act passed. Mostly he and other members of the band were attending Mission High School in SF and practicing after school in Dolores Park across the street. But they hit it big pretty quickly, and they did play fundraiser for political events, mostly about the Vietnam War. I don’t know if he did any benefits specifically for Caesar Chavez’ campaign, though I imagine he did. Would that count?
May 17, 2011 at 9:28 am
Bruce Ross
Thanks, Eric. I was just wondering if booing Carlos Santana was somehow akin to, say, booing John Lewis.
And just for the record, it was The Nation writer’s implication — “a perfect display of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Georgia” — not Santana’s. Incidentally, I wouldn’t knock him for taking an opportunity to speak an unpopular truth, which’ll sometimes get you booed.
May 17, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Anonymous
Santana is the only racist in the story.
May 18, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Anonymous
Reminds me of the Rosanne Barr incident.
May 18, 2011 at 5:31 pm
V.F.
I read the article and all the comments after it. Most of the negative comments were about illegal immigrants. I think these people just don’t get it. Sure we have a problem with illegal immigrants, but to me the real issue is the Georgia and Arizona laws both require American citizens to carry papers proving they are citizens. (“show me your papers”). This stinks.
Iif you’re latino and speaking spanish in public, but breaking no laws, the police can demand your papers. You may be an American citizen, but you’ll go to jail for not having papers. How many white people do you think will be stopped and asked to prove they’re citizens?
If I’m not driving, I go out in public at times without ID. As far as I know that’s not illegal under federal law. Now it is under Arizona and Georgia law. The Supremes need to overturn these laws, but I don’t have a lot of hope given the right wing leaning of the court.
Carlos did the right thing to point out the weakening of our civil rights.