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Kanye West Joins Growing List Of Artists Refusing To Perform In Arizona In Protest Of Anti-Immigration Law SB 1070

Posted by ChasinDatPaper on May 27, 2010 at 11:30am


Video After The Jump


Arizona's controversial new anti-immigration law SB 1070 continues to draw boycotts and protests.

Kanye West has joined a protest being organized by Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine dubbed "The Sound Strike".

The protest movement is growing larger as artists refuse to perform in Arizona as long as the law is in place. Singer Shakira was recently in Phoenix speaking with Mayor Phil Gordon and other government officials to discuss the controversial legislation.

Pitbull and Cypress Hill recently canceled shows there and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Disturbing Tha Peace artist Willy Northpole just released a new video "Back To Mexico" as a show of solidarity between blacks and mexicans.

Sonic Youth, Joe Satriani, Massive Attack, Tenacious D, film maker Michael Moore and many others are participating.

De la Rocha sent out a press release on Tuesday (May 25) that read in part.

"Fans of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak, or for the music they listen to. People who are poor like some of us used to be could be forced to live in a constant state of fear while just doing what they can to find work and survive. This law opens the door for them to be shaked down, or even worse, detained and deported while just trying to travel home from school, from home to work, or when they just roll out with their friends.

Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low. If other states follow the direction of the Arizona government, we could be headed towards a pre-civil rights era reality. This unjust law was set into motion by the same Arizona government that refused to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. day as a national holiday."

SB 1070 allows police officers to stop and question people they "reasonably suspect" of being in the United States illegally.

To read more on the protest and see the full list of artists participating and sign the petition go to www.thesoundstrike.net.

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Willy Northpole "Back To Mexico"
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Controversial New Arizona Immigration Law Draws Furor {Video]

Posted by ChasinDatPaper on April 26, 2010 at 7:12pm


Video After The Jump

PHOENIX — The furor over Arizona’s new law cracking down on illegal immigrants grew Monday as opponents used refried beans to smear swastikas on the state Capitol, civil rights leaders demanded a boycott of the state and the Obama administration weighed a possible legal challenge.

Activists are planning a challenge of their own, hoping to block the law from taking effect by arguing that it encroaches on the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration and violates people’s constitutional rights by giving police too much power.

The measure — set to take effect in late July or early August — would make it a crime under state law to be in the U.S. illegally. It directs state and local police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.

"If you look or sound foreign, you are going to be subjected to never-ending requests for police to confirm your identity and to confirm your citizenship," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which is exploring legal action.

Employees at the Capitol came to work Monday to find that vandals had smeared swastikas on the windows. And protesters gathered for a second straight day to speak out against a law they say will lead to rampant racial profiling of anyone who looks Hispanic.

The White House would not rule out the possibility that the administration would take legal action against Arizona. President Barack Obama, who warned last week that the measure could lead to police abuses, asked the Justice Department to complete a review of the law’s implications before deciding how to proceed.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the law is discriminatory and warned that trade and political ties with Arizona will be seriously strained by the crackdown.

Currently, many U.S. police departments do not ask about people’s immigration status unless they have run afoul of the law in some other way. Many departments say stopping and questioning people will only discourage immigrants from cooperating to solve crimes.

Under the new Arizona law, immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the U.S. could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500. That is a significant escalation of the typical federal punishment for being here illegally — deportation.

People arrested by Arizona police would be turned over to federal immigration officers. Opponents said the federal government could thwart the law by refusing to accept them.

Supporters of the law said it is necessary to protect Arizonans from crimes committed by illegal immigrants. Arizona is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants and is the nation’s busiest gateway for people slipping into the country.

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the bill on Friday, said Arizona must act because Washington has failed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs from Mexico. Brewer has ordered state officials to develop a training course for officers to learn what constitutes reasonable suspicion that someone is in the U.S. illegally.

The crux of opponents’ arguments is that only the federal government has the authority to regulate immigration.

"If every state had its own laws, we wouldn’t be one country; we’d be 50 different countries," said Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Kevin Johnson, dean of the law school at the University of California-Davis and an immigration law professor, said such a lawsuit would have a very good chance of success. He said the state law gets into legal trouble by giving local law enforcement officers the authority to enforce immigration laws.

"States can’t give them that power," Johnson said. "The federal government could if it wanted to, but it hasn’t."

However, Gerald Neuman, a Harvard Law School professor, said Arizona could make a compelling legal argument that it has overlapping authority to protect its residents.

Johnson said opponents could also argue that the law could violate their Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure because it gives police officers broad authority to determine who should be questioned.

Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who helped write the Arizona legislation, said he anticipated legal challenges and carefully drafted the language. He said the state law is only prohibiting conduct already illegal under federal law.


In a statement Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the state’s new law would probably hinder law enforcement in dealing with more serious crimes. Napolitano vetoed similar proposals when she was Arizona governor.

"They would have diverted critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety and undermined the vital trust between local jurisdictions and the communities they serve," she said.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera urged policymakers in the city to stop dealing with Arizona and Arizona businesses. Leaders in Mexico and California also demanded a boycott, as did civil rights leader Al Sharpton.

The law has strong public support in Arizona, where passions have been running high since a rancher was killed close to the Mexican border last month, apparently by drug smugglers from across the border.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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No charges to be filed against Shawne Merriman,Tila Tequila's case dismissed by DA

Posted by ChasinDatPaper on September 11, 2009 at 6:30pm

Miami Herald Reports The San Diego district attorney's office has reportedly decided against filing charges against Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman for allegedly choking and restraining his girlfriend, MTV star Tila Tequila. The San Diego Union-Tribune posted a statement from district attorney Bonnie Dumanis saying that her office "determined there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any crime was committed." The report also says the case is now closed. The paper reported last Sunday that Tequila -- the star of a former reality show on MTV, whose real name is Tila Nguyen -- signed a citizen's arrest complaint that charged the linebacker with battery and false imprisonment. Deputies went to Merriman's home just before 4:00 a.m. in response to a disturbance call. Tequila reportedly told them she was choked, thrown to the ground and restrained by Merriman upon attempting to leave. Merriman was then released from custody just after 11:00 a.m. The 25-year-old Merriman is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and was named First-Team All-Pro in 2006, when he led the league with 17 sacks. Merriman, the 12th overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft, has spent his entire four-year career with San Diego. He missed all but the first game last season because of a knee injury that required surgery.
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GLAAD asks Perez Hilton to apologize for anti-gay slurs against Will.i.am

Posted by ChasinDatPaper on June 23, 2009 at 8:18am

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has asked Perez Hilton to apologize for slurs he hurled at Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. GLAAD was responding to a video posted by the celebrity blogger, whose legal name is Mario Lavandeira, in which Hilton gave his version of events after Will.i.am posted a video describing their recent confrontations at and after the MuchMusic Video Awards. Said Hilton in his video: "I made the split-second decision -- that I was gonna say what I thought was the worst possible thing that thug [Will.i.am] would ever want to hear" -- which was a handful of assorted F-bombs. Rashad Robinson, GLAAD's senior director of media programs, said: "These are vulgar anti-gay slurs that feed a climate of hatred and intolerance toward our community. For someone in our own community to use it to attack another person by saying that it is, quote, ‘The worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear,’ is incredibly dangerous. It legitimizes use of a slur that is often linked to violence against our community. And it sends a message that it is OK to attempt to dehumanize people by exploiting anti-gay attitudes.” “We have reached out to Hilton and asked him to apologize for promoting this anti-gay slur, and we would ask media outlets to avoid repetition of the slur in their coverage of this story.” Source : LATIMES
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