I love baseball. I love baseball so much that I learned to keep score when I was 10 and cried when I learned that David Wells had been traded from the Yankees. I grew up on baseball, and I believed in what it stood for. It is a unifying and uniquely American sport that is full of patriotism and nostalgia. It is a sport that is also so dedicated to equal opportunity that it held the fourth annual Civil Rights Game on Sunday, May 15, in Atlanta.
Baseball, like our country, relies on diversity. From the day Jackie Robinson stepped onto the field in 1947 to today, baseball has embraced integration as a practice. Most current team’s lineups include multiple races and people from places like Japan and Venezuela. Discrimination would only eliminate talent.
Celebrating this commitment to diversity, Major League Baseball (MLB) honored hall of famers Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks, actor Morgan Freeman, and musician Carlos Santana Sunday afternoon. Everyone was feeling festive — and then Carlos Santana, got up on the stage.
With all eyes at Turner Field on him, Mr. Santana stood up and declared, “The people of Arizona and the people of Atlanta, Ga. — you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Mr. Santana took his moment to criticize , a law designed to mimic Arizona’s infamous S.B. 1070. The bill was signed into law on May 13, just two days prior.
Mr. Santana is not alone in his disappointment over MLB’s choice of Atlanta as the seat of the Civil Rights game. HB 87 symbolizes intolerance and stands against the civil rights strides professional baseball has made. Georgia’s new law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2011, requires everyone in Georgia to carry certain kinds of documentation that prove their right to be in the country. A U.S. driver’s license isn’t even good enough under HB 87, if it’s from a state that doesn’t verify immigration status when it issues licenses. If someone who is not carrying the documents required by HB 87 is stopped, he or she can be detained while the police attempt to determine his or her immigration status — even if he or she is here lawfully.
This law puts local police officers in the immigration enforcement business. The truth is, that immigration is an especially complex area of law. But, unfortunately, many cops think they know an unauthorized immigrant when they see one. People who seem foreign — because of their names, their accents, or the color of their skin — will likely be subjected to unequal treatment under this law.
In this day and age, baseball has come to represent the true American dream. Famous pitcher Orlando Hernandez played in the Cuban leagues until he defected from his country and got on a boat to the U.S. hoping to play in the majors. Infamous outfielder Manny Ramirez was born in the Dominican Republic, grew up in Washington Heights and climbed his way into the major leagues eventually hitting around 550 home runs in his career.
It is unfortunate that MLB decided to have such an important game in a state where people like Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Ramirez, and multiple players on both teams in the Civil Rights Game could be subject to racial profiling. We disagree with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig when he said “Atlanta is really a perfect place for this …That is why the [Civil Rights Game] is here.”
I believe that baseball is about America — all of America. Celebrating the sport’s definite contribution to acceptance in a state that passed a law promoting xenophobia is an offense to the players, the sport, and the fans like myself, who believe in the integrity of baseball.
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Civil Liberties
We Need to Know More About State Supreme Court CasesWe Need to Know More About State Supreme Court Cases
State Supreme Courts interpret laws that impact some of the most intimate parts of our lives. Communities have a right to know what’s on the docket. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Civil Liberties
New ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency MeasuresNew ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency Measures
NEW YORK — Nearly half of all state supreme courts across the country fail to regularly post new cases they are considering, with only six meeting four key transparency measures already implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a new report published today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The report identifies significant steps that state supreme courts should take to inform the public about their cases, which have only grown in importance as the federal judiciary has become more hostile to protecting core rights and advocates have turned to state protections and state court litigation in response. Based on an analysis of the practices and policies of the highest courts in each state, including D.C., the report “Scorecard for State Supreme Court Transparency: How Does Your State Stack Up?” ranks each state supreme court in five tiers based on compliance with four key transparency measures. These measures include posting new cases online in a timely manner, providing timely information about legal issues presented by cases, making dockets accessible and free for the public, and making merits briefing accessible and free for the public. “State courts regularly hear — and are the final word on — cases affecting abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and more. Yet, in many instances, the highest state courts do not provide meaningful public access to information about cases affecting the rights and liberties of millions of people. We urge state supreme courts to bring more transparency to the critical work they do,” said Julie Murray, co-director of the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative. “In the face of a federal judiciary increasingly unwilling to protect core rights and an incoming administration that threatens to exacerbate that problem, state courts are an important defense for our liberty. They should be leaders in transparency, too,” said Bridget Lavender, Skadden Fellow with the Initiative. The report emphasizes that state courts “play an outsized role” in many parts of the law, but their ability to “guard our liberties depends in significant part on whether those courts adopt transparent processes.” It further highlights that state supreme courts have led the way on enormously consequential decisions in recent years. In particular, some state supreme courts have recognized the right of same sex couples to marry, and did so long before federal courts. They have also declared the death penalty unconstitutional under state law despite contrary federal law, protected access to reproductive health care as a right even as that right was being stripped away at the federal level, and provided more robust protection to people subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. The report urges state supreme courts to take action to improve their transparency practices, taking notes from the courts that have already implemented these measures. It notes that regularly posting new cases and the issues they represent, and providing timely access to dockets and merits briefing allows the public, the press, and the legal community to track cases as they unfold, identify cases with statewide consequences, and understand what’s at stake. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
ACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political EnemiesACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union strongly urges the House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would grant Donald Trump and his handpicked secretary of the Treasury power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups — by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. “Passing this bill would hand the incoming Trump administration a dangerous new tool it could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “The freedom to dissent without fear of government retribution is a vital part of any well-functioning democracy, which is why Congress must block H.R. 9495 before it’s too late.” While there is a 90-day “cure” period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as "support," making it virtually impossible to clear its name. Last month, the ACLU and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations — including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants’ rights groups — wrote to Congress urging them to vote no. The letter also explains that the groups do not oppose the provisions in H.R. 9495 that relate to preventing the IRS from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad. Indeed, these provisions have already passed the Senate on their own, and if the House of Representatives were to pass a version of this bill that did not include the text of H.R. 6408, it could be sent immediately to President Biden for his signature. -
News & CommentaryNov 2024
Civil Liberties
Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.
Starting in 2016, the ACLU filed more than 400 legal actions against Trump and his administration. As Trump returns to the White House, we’re ready to return to the courts and Congress to fight for our civil liberties.