NYT weighs in again on musicians and SB 1070
It’s the lede story in the arts section today:
[T]he new law has galvanized Latino artists and performers not just in Arizona, but across the country and the hemisphere.
“Mexican-Americans are not going to take this lying down,” the singer Linda Ronstadt, an Arizonan of Mexican descent, said at a news conference in Phoenix last month. The Colombian singing star Shakira flew to the state last month to denounce the law as “a violation of human and civil rights” and met with Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix and other opponents of the legislation; but she has not signed the Sound Strike pledge.
In a telephone interview from Miami, the Colombian folk-rock singer Juanes, who has joined the boycott, said: “I’ve performed in Phoenix many times, and it’s sad that I’m not going to be able to play there. But from the moment I heard that this bill had become a reality, I felt offended and also that I had to stand in peaceful solidarity with our immigrant brothers who are being made the victims in this.”
The story also takes note of a little noted issue; there was already a de facto boycott of Arizona:
It is not clear, however, to what extent commercial considerations may also have figured in those decisions. Mexican regional music performers, managers and booking agents said business was suffering even before Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law. They ascribed the decline to what they called a longstanding practice by Arizona law enforcement authorities, especially Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, of stopping fans coming out of arenas, clubs, rodeos, fairs and cantinas that they think will attract illegal immigrants.
Hispanic leaders and human rights groups contend that the authorities do not dispatch similar “crime suppression sweeps” to rock and country music concerts. Michael Nowakowski, who is both a vice mayor of Phoenix and general manager of Radio Campesina, a Spanish-language radio station, said that even Latinos who are American citizens or green card holders are afraid to attend music or theatrical events
Mr. Gutierrez said, “It’s a purely racial, Hispanic thing, ethnic profiling at its worst.”



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