L.A. Dodgers Radio Airs Union Ad Calling Arizona's Immigration Law 'Wrong'
California Desk
May 16, 2010
LOS ANGELES - Dodgers radio KABC 790 AM is now airing a 30-second ad created by Los Angeles labor unions calling out the racial profiling aspect of Arizona's new immigration law as "wrong." In baseball, the ad notes, "the umpire must call the play the same way, no matter what uniform the player is wearing." But according to Arizona's new law, local police officers will have to "call things differently." Based on skin color or appearance, a person "might be arrested as a suspected undocumented immigrant." The ad contrasts the prejudice and racial profiling encouraged by the Arizona law with the achievements of Jackie Robinson and Major League Baseball in breaking the color barrier in 1947.
"L.A. unions stand united against Arizona's immigration law that targets brown people as suspects," says Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, "What Arizona poses as a solution is no more than ethnic and immigrant scapegoating. It is not what the United States is based on, and it is wrong.
"Our Dodgers' ad expresses L.A. Labor's united opposition as part of a rising tide against Arizona's unfair and mean-spirited immigration law," Durazo continues. "We call on our federal government to step up to the plate and enact comprehensive immigration reform that deals with the real issues of jobs and families, and fixes our current broken system that drives down wages and working conditions for all workers in our country. This is a federal issue and we must have federal reform."
The Dodger radio ads are sponsored by the L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which represents more than 800,000 working men and women in Los Angeles County.
More than 10,000 L.A.-area union members marched in downtown L.A. on May 1 for comprehensive immigration reform. Labor's delegation hailed from the building trades, public sector, hotel and service industries, the security and carwash industries, transportation and truck driving, education, health care, telecommunications and the food and commercial sectors.
"L.A. unions stand united against Arizona's immigration law that targets brown people as suspects," says Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, "What Arizona poses as a solution is no more than ethnic and immigrant scapegoating. It is not what the United States is based on, and it is wrong.
"Our Dodgers' ad expresses L.A. Labor's united opposition as part of a rising tide against Arizona's unfair and mean-spirited immigration law," Durazo continues. "We call on our federal government to step up to the plate and enact comprehensive immigration reform that deals with the real issues of jobs and families, and fixes our current broken system that drives down wages and working conditions for all workers in our country. This is a federal issue and we must have federal reform."
The Dodger radio ads are sponsored by the L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which represents more than 800,000 working men and women in Los Angeles County.
More than 10,000 L.A.-area union members marched in downtown L.A. on May 1 for comprehensive immigration reform. Labor's delegation hailed from the building trades, public sector, hotel and service industries, the security and carwash industries, transportation and truck driving, education, health care, telecommunications and the food and commercial sectors.
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