Boycott the Diamondbacks.

• Author: Zirin, Dave
• Position: Edge of Sports - Arizona Diamondbacks

Gonna find a way Make the state pay Lookin' far the day Hard as it seems This ain't no damn dream Gotta know what I mean It's team against team --Public Enemy, "By the Time I Get to Arizona" T his will be the last column I write about the Arizona Diamondbacks in the foreseeable future. For me, they do not exist. They will continue to not exist in my mind as long as the horribly named "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" remains law in Arizona. This law has brought echoes of apartheid to the state.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The law makes it a crime to walk the streets without clutching your passport, green card, visa, or state ID. It not only empowers but absolutely requires cops to demand paperwork if they so much as suspect a person of being undocumented. A citizen can, in fact, sue any police officer they see not harassing suspected immigrants. The bill would also make it a class one misdemeanor for anyone to "pick up passengers for work" if their vehicle blocks traffic. And it makes a second violation of any aspect of the law a felony.

In response, Representative Raul Grijalva, who's from Arizona itself, has called for a national boycott against the state. He got so many hateful threats during the week the bill became law that he had to close his Arizona offices at noon that Friday.

Many of us aren't in either the imminent vacation or retirement mode. We do, however, live in baseball cities where the Arizona Diamondbacks come to play.

When they arrive in my hometown in D.C., my back will be turned, and my television will be off. This is not merely because they happen to be the team from Arizona. The D-backs organization is a primary funder of the state Republican Party, which has driven the measure through the legislature.

As the official Arizona Diamondbacks boycott call states, "In 2010, the National Republican Senatorial Committee's third highest Contributor was the [executives of the] Arizona Diamondbacks, who gave $121,600; furthermore, they also contributed $129,500, which ranked as the eighteenth highest contribution to the Republican Party Committee." The team's big boss, Ken Kendrick, and his family members, E. G. Kendrick Sr...