All Star Game boycott sought to protest Arizona law

The only Latino in the Senate urged Major League Baseball players on Monday to boycott the 2011 All-Star game in Arizona to protest the state’s tough new immigration law.”The Arizona law is offensive to Hispanics and all Americans because it codifies racial profiling into law by requiring police to question anyone who appears to be in the country illegally,” New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez wrote Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Menendez, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is the only Latino in the 100-member chamber. In his letter, he noted more than 1 in 4 players are Latinos.Signed into law last month by Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer, the law requires state and local police, after making “lawful contact,” to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect is in the country illegally.The measure has prompted a number of calls for boycotts of businesses in the state, amid charges that it is unconstitutional and a mandate for racial profiling.

Representative Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat, and some Latino organizations have called upon MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to move the All-Star game, which is scheduled to be played in July 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona’s state capital. A Major League Baseball spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.Calls for a sporting boycott of Arizona began soon after Brewer signed the bill into law on April 23. A group of protesters turned out to picket the Diamondbacks, the state’s Major League baseball team, at a game in Chicago.

The new law has reignited calls for Congress to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, and Menendez joined two fellow Senate Democrats last month in unveiling a “draft” plan.But lawmakers from both parties appear reluctant to tackle the emotional issue months before November’s congressional elections.

‘HUMILIATION AND HARASSMENT’

Almost two-thirds of Arizona voters and a majority of voters nationwide support the law, which backers say is needed to curb violence and crime stemming from illegal immigration in the Mexico border state.

In late April, Brewer signed changes to the law that she said made it “crystal clear” racial profiling was illegal. However, a recent poll of Hispanic voters in Arizona found that 85 percent felt that Latinos who are legal immigrants or U.S. citizens were likely to be stopped or questioned by police.In his letter, Menendez wrote that Latino players come to the United States legally “and should not be subjected to the humiliation and harassment that (the new law) would inflict” on them during their visit to the state for the All-Star game.”Imagine if your players and their families were subjected to interrogation by law enforcement, simply because they look a certain way,” the senator added.

Menendez said, “the Arizona law is an embarrassment to our country and a call to action to our communities to stand up against injustice.””For these reasons, I ask that you consider boycotting the All-Star Game in Arizona until SB1070 (the new law) is repealed, or the League decides to move the game to an alternate location,” Menendez wrote.(Reuters)

Health experts on Wednesday raised concern about the growing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers

Health experts on Wednesday raised concern about the growing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers, and suggested its use by Major League Baseball players is influencing young people to take up the cancer-causing habit.The use of smokeless tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff, by teens has risen in recent years, reversing a trend toward declining use of all tobacco products by teens, Terry Pechacek of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a U.S. congressional panel. He said data to be released in the next few months will show an increase mainly among white and Hispanic young males.

“Across the nation … we are seeing an uptick,” Pechacek told the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. “This uptick has been going on for several years now.”Health experts say smokeless tobacco can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus and pancreas. Pechacek said the CDC is concerned that high school students perceive smokeless tobacco to be safer than cigarettes.

Former baseball player and sportscaster Joe Garagiola, a one-time user of chewing tobacco, said the league should ban the use of smokeless tobacco by players.”Like many other players I thought being a Major League player meant you had to chew,” Garagiola told the panel. He said he quit when his daughter asked him if he was going to die from it.”Get together guys, ban tobacco and anyone who uses it is penalized. Get it out of our game,” he said.

All tobacco products have been banned from the minor leagues since 1993. But extending the ban to the majors has to be done as part of a collective bargaining agreement with the players union, Robert Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations and human resource for Major League Baseball, told the committee.David Prouty, the chief labor counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association, said the union opposes a ban.”We believe baseball players should not be prohibited from using substances that are perfectly legal and available to the general public,” he told the panel.

Prouty promised to discuss the issue with players to see if they would agree to include a ban in the next contract talks.Gregory Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, said research shows that about one-third of Major League players and one-quarter of minor league players report using chewing tobacco and moist snuff.”The use of smokeless tobacco by players has a powerful role model effect on youth particularly among young males in sport, some of whom ironically remain addicted in future careers as professional athletes,” Connolly said.He said teens often extol the virtues of smokeless tobacco on baseball social networking sites such as Facebook.(Reuters)