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Friends,
This month has been an incredibly tough month for the Latino community.
On August 3rd, a gunman opened fire in an El Paso Walmart, killing 22 men, women, and children. The assailant, a 22-year-old white nationalist, said afterwards that he drove over 600 miles to the city of El Paso to target Latinos.
Since the shooting, Latinos interviewed by various media outlets in the El Paso area and across the country have voiced the fact that they no longer feel safe. “It feels like we’re being hunted,” one DACA recipient stated in a recent New York Times article.
Four days later, on Wednesday August 7th, in another targeted attack on the Latino community, federal agents raided a number of companies across Mississippi in what is considered to be the largest worksite enforcement action ever in a single state. About 680 immigrants who were believed to be working without legal documentation were apprehended and taken away on buses.
The day these raids took place also happened to be the first day of school in Mississippi, and dozens of children were shocked to come back to empty homes and were left wondering about the whereabouts of their parents.
For many Latinos across the United States, these two attacks have felt like a turning point, calling into question everything they thought they knew about their place in America. Liberal or conservative, speakers of English or Spanish, recent immigrants or native-born citizens, many Latinos are distraught that the brand of white nationalism that has recently become normalized in America seems to have placed them in its crosshairs.
These events are a reminder that we live in a representative democracy in which we elect officials to create laws and policy on our behalf. If the events in El Paso or in Mississippi have left you devastated, get involved in your community. Call your elected officials. Mobilize voters in your district.
We are all a part of this American experiment and we can all do our part to make sure that what happened in El Paso and Mississippi don’t happen again.
Our hearts go out to those who have been directly impacted by these horrifying events.
Cuídense,
The Latino Texas PAC Board
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