Greater than 50 neighborhood and spiritual leaders from round Los Angeles signed a petition Friday that known as on the Dodgers “to take a public stand against the indiscriminate ICE raids which are causing immense terror in our communities, hurting businesses, and separating families.”
“This is the moment for the Dodgers to stand with the families whom masked agents are tearing apart,” learn the letter, which was signed by non secular officers, labor leaders and immigrant-rights activists, and addressed to Dodgers proprietor Mark Walter.
“If these truly are OUR beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, we need you, more than ever, to stand with us, immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Stand with all of us.”
The petition, which was organized by faith-based neighborhood organizing community PICO California, got here a day after the Dodgers postponed what was scheduled to be their first public remark relating to the immigration raids which have swept via the town during the last two weeks.
On Thursday, the membership had been making ready to announce their plans for help to immigrant communities affected by the latest occasions within the metropolis, a crew spokesperson informed The Instances this week.
However then, federal immigration brokers confirmed up at Dodger Stadium on Thursday morning, trying to entry the ballpark’s parking heaps in an obvious effort to make use of them as a processing website for individuals who had been arrested in a close-by immigration raid.
The Dodgers denied the brokers entry to the grounds, in keeping with the crew, however the ensuing fallout prompted their deliberate announcement to be delayed.
“Because of the events earlier today, we continue to work with groups that were involved with our programs,” crew president Stan Kasten stated. “But we are going to have to delay today’s announcement while we firm up some more details. We’ll get back to you soon with the timing.”
Friday’s petition implored the membership to not wait any longer, asking the crew to:
Concern a public assertion affirming that households are sacred, and that the ICE raids should stopStand with and help neighborhood organizations which can be welcoming, defending, and integrating immigrants into the material of our nice regionAs while you requested ICE to go away the property yesterday, proceed to make sure that no Dodgers’ property or property will probably be used to help or abet immigration enforcement operations
Most of the signatories of Friday’s petition had been native church leaders, together with the bishops of the Methodist California-Pacific Convention and Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
“For generations, Angelenos have prayed their Dodgers on through good times and bad,” John Harvey Taylor, the Episcopal bishop, stated in a press release. “Dodgers security were champions this weekend. We pray that the Dodgers will stand with their fans, and their friends and family, who are at risk from these cruel workplace raids.”
The petition was additionally signed by representatives from greater than 20 neighborhood advocacy teams, together with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and Nationwide Day Laborer Organizing Community; in addition to labor leaders from native instructor unions and the Service Workers Worldwide Union, amongst others.
“We love the Dodgers not only because they are champions, but even more because they are the team of Jackie Robinson, of Fernando Valenzuela, of Kiké Hernandez — baseball players who have helped bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice,” Joseph Tomás McKellar, govt director of the PICO California group that organized the petition, stated in a press release. “This is a moment when the Dodgers, a beloved family and cultural institution for 67 years, can take a moral stand and make an impact on the lives of vulnerable families in our region. Families are sacred.”
The Dodgers — which, the petition notes, has a roughly 40% Latino fan base — had been underneath elevated public stress in latest days to handle the immigration raids occurring across the metropolis.
Final weekend, they acquired backlash when singer and social media character Nezza carried out a Spanish-language model of the nationwide anthem at a recreation, in an act of protest in opposition to the raids, regardless of being requested by a membership worker to sing it in English. Stadium safety officers have additionally been seen cracking down on anti-ICE signage that some followers have tried to show across the ballpark just lately. And this week, some followers on social media started to name for a protest in opposition to the crew on Saturday.
The Dodgers are nonetheless anticipated to unveil their plans to help native immigrant communities within the close to future. If not for Thursday’s surprising encounter with federal immigration brokers, it may need already occurred by now.
However as a substitute, they’ve but to interrupt their silence on the difficulty.
And on Friday, neighborhood leaders turned up the general public stress to take action.
