"It's an anti-American law" —Carlos Santana in Georgia

Carroll Rogers wrote in the AJC 15 May 2011, Santana blasts Georgia immigration bill before Braves game:

Legendary rock guitarist Carlos Santana, in town to be honored for a "Beacon of Change" award at Sunday’s MLB Civil Rights Game at Turner Field, called the state's new immigration law "anti-American."

Santana took his turn at the podium on the field in a pre-game ceremony before the Braves-Phillies game to criticize the immigration bill just signed into law by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Friday.

"I represent the human race," the Mexican-born Carlos Santana said. "The people of Arizona, the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves."

The Georgia immigration law, HB 87, cracks down on illegal immigration by increasing enforcement powers and requiring many employers to check the immigration status of new hires.

And this is just the start of what's going to happen to Georgia as long as that law is in effect.

But what do you really think, Carlos?

"This is about fear, that people are going to steal my job," Santana said of the law. "No we ain’t. You don’t clean toilets and clean sheets, stop shucking and jiving."

Santana referenced his 1960s rock-n-roll background and said he is an artist unafraid to speak out.

"It's an anti-American law. It's a cruel law, actually," Santana said. "If you all remember what it was like here with Martin Luther King and the dogs and the hoses, it’s the same thing, only it's high tech. So let's change it.”

Immigrants won't steal your jobs, unless they're turned into prisoners in private prisons and hired out at wages nobody can compete with.

-jsq