Singers won’t play in Arizona until new immigration law changes

Imagine you’re walking down the street when police officers ask to see your ID. They’re not asking you because you’ve done anything wrong but because of the colour of your skin. This is called racial profiling and is illegal everywhere in the US – except in the US state of Arizona.

Arizona recently introduced a law that says police there must check the immigration status of people they think might be in the US illegally. Most of the illegal immigrants in the US come from Mexico and look Hispanic. Now singers and bands including Kanye West, Cypress Hill and Massive Attack have joined a group called The Sound Strike, saying they won’t play concerts in Arizona until officials there change this law.

Singer Zach de la Rocha from the LA rock band Rage Against the Machine helped start the group. He says, "Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling but this law takes it to a whole new low." There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.