Phillies

Carlos Santana Was Booed on Civil Rights Day in Atlanta

By Kyle Scott

Published: May 16th, 2011 · 4:18 PM EDT

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Not at the baseball game, Carlos

We're certain yesterday's game wasn't in Philly, right? Because surely a celebrity wouldn't get booed while professing the need for civil rights on, um, Civil Rights Day, would he? [The Nation- warning, left extremist alert]

Thank God that Commissioner Selig was stupid enough to choose the Civil Rights Game to honor, among others, the great musician Carlos Santana. Santana was supposed to be the Latino stand-in, a smiling symbol of baseball’s diversity. And maybe, he would even play a song!

But Bud picked the wrong Latino. Carlos Santana took the microphone and said that he was representing all immigrants. 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.

 

OK, step one in the game day speaker guide: Don't tell the fans to be ashamed of themselves.

Step two: No politics.

Santana was speaking about Georgia's recently passed House Bill 87, which basically says that police officers can demand to see immigration papers from people they suspect to be "undocumented." Racial profiling, yo. That portion of the bill likely reads more Draconian than it is, but Georgia and Arizona are the only two states to have passed that sort of legislation. Before getting too C-SPAN on you, we'll just leave it at "Atlantians booed Carlos Santana."

And to think we got shit for booing Beyonce.

Santana, of course, should have kept his mouth shut.