in charge of this critical agency, a man with deep, deep ties to the oil industry, and secondly he erred in listening to salazar and opening up the atlantic coast, the eastern gulf coast of mexico and the arctic in alaska to new offshore oil drilling. that was a mistake. the good news is the president can reverse course. we re early in that process. he can do that. he can reform the mineral management service and frankly he can ask ken salazar to step down in the wake of this crisis. so there s a lot of opportunities for the president to fix what s going on out there. kieran, great thanks for your perspective and time tonight. thanks for having me on. flash point. in phoenix this evening the basketball team celebrating hispanic heritage night on report an illegal day. reverend al sharpton is there and will join us from the protest site. this is a would-be republican congressman s new ad. tea time approaches.
quickest way to actually get to the heart of the matter. do you think that applies here? because pressure on and from the national football league was the last straw in many respects in erasing arizona s resistance to martin luther king day 20-odd years ago. could basketball or football or the baseball all-star game next year actually be a key in this? it could be very key. in fact, that s why tonight when we go back to march past the arena to the state capitol some of us will be wearing the jerseys that the suns are wearing tonight inside the arena. we will be calling on the commissioner selig to say that the all-star game from the major league baseball cannot come to phoenix if this law stands, in the next rally, we will have at major league baseball headquarters. we think sports can play a critical role here particularly when many of the players across the board themselves could be and will be profiled if they come to this state if this law takes effect. the polling in arizona,
mr. pearse on the other. in 2006 he was caught sending a white separatist e-mail to his supporters and was forced to apologize. reverend al sharpton joins us in phoenix. he has just come from the arena where los suns are playing to night. thanks for your time tonight. thank you. do people in arizona realize just who has been writing and introducing these laws, the backgrounds of these guys? we re certainly saying that to them loud and clear, and i think you ve done america and arizona a favor by exposing it and showing the photos. it s certainly not disputed now when you have this guy embracing people like this, when you can talk about what he sent out to his constituents that he s had to apologize for. he s the author of this legislation that clearly leads to racial profiling, which is why on this day, cinco de mayo, many of us are here from around the country to march into the state capitol, to a state vigil
steve nash sh arizona resident, canadian citizen, telling reporters yesterday, i think the law is very misguided. at the white house, the president observed cinco de mayo with a rose garden address calling for comprehensive immigration reform and acknowledging the basketball game tonight. i know a lot of you would rather be watching tonight s game. the spurs against los suns from phoenix. a j.t. ready sees cinco de mayo a little differently. his neonazi group has been handing out in phoenix flyers calling for residents to blow the whistle on illegal residents making may 5th report an illegal day. ready says his group s numbers are swelling, thanks to sb 1070, the show us your papers law introduced by senator russell pearse. this photo taken in june of 2007 from the phoenix new times website. that s mr. ready on one side and
demanding racial profiling in tv ads. and this man joins us from phoenix. and it is hispanic heritage night in phoenix, also it s report an illegal day in arizona. you re watching countdown on msnbc.