Halford Gets Political On AZ Law
By: Carl Sundberg
Last updated May 11th , 2010

Judas Priest is generally not known as a very political band. But frontman, Rob Halford, who is a part-time resident of Phoenix, has now jumped into the political fray on the Arizona situation. Halford is taking the stand that the recent immigration law in Arizona is "racist."

"It's a really, really difficult time for a lot of people," Halford told CNN recently. "We [Judas Priest] try and stay out of politics – that's not our job – but I think for something as volatile as this...there's Latino metalheads and there's all kinds of metalheads. From my heart, I think it's a racist law, I really do. I mean, I've thought about it and I've looked at everybody's point of view, and it's a terrible thing that's going on there, so I'm a little upset about the whole thing. I hope it gets resolved."

He adds, "All I want to do is rock and roll. I think that's what rock and roll's main job is. There's enough trouble going on in the world and we give people a moment to forget about all that and just kind of escape it and so forth. But I think it's valuable to get a person's point of view, whether it's right or wrong. That's America."

The new Arizona immigration law requires police to determine if people are in the country illegally, which was a function of U.S. federal immigration police before the law was passed. 

Critics of the law argue the law is unconstitutional and the face of racial profiling, while supporters say the law is needed to curb crime in the state, due to the influx of violent crime spilling over the border from Mexico.

Judas Priest's 30th Anniversary Edition of their classic album 'British Steel' was released today in stores and online retailers worldwide.

[Tags] Metal, Rock

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