Americans Yearn for Unity and a New Direction; Trump Sticks with Ugliness & Division
Today, one year after the El Paso Massacre that tragically killed 23 people and left another 23 wounded, America’s Voice reflects on the state of a city and a country battered by hatred, division and violence.
According to Mario Carrillo, Texas-based campaign manager for America’s Voice, who grew up in El Paso:
One year ago, my hometown was attacked by a white supremacist intent on fighting back on what he called an “invasion” of immigrants, language similar to that heard from anti-immigration advocates that has been adopted by Trump in his hate speech and by the right-wing media. The killer drove hundreds of miles specifically to attack people who look like me and my family. He attacked the very core of what makes El Paso the welcoming city that it has been for us since my family arrived 30 years ago, and continues to be for migrants and visitors today.
The attacker didn’t care about immigration status. This was an all-out attack on Latinos in a city where we make up the vast majority of people. But in response to terror, El Paso has shown its resiliency and its commitment to continue being a beacon of hope for the world over.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
America is ready for strong leadership that brings people together to heal our wounds and solve our challenges. Unfortunately, our current president is a weak leader who divides people and makes our biggest problems worse.
Trump’s dehumanizing rhetoric about Mexican and Latino immigrants, which started the second he descended that escalator in 2015, created a permission structure for his most unstable and unhinged followers. One sent pipe bombs to progressive and Democratic leaders across the country; another killed 11 people in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh; and one drove across the state of Texas to shoot at Brown people in El Paso.
As we reflect on the one-year anniversary of that terrible day, let us elect leaders who forge unity, who believe that ‘all of us’ means all of us, and who get that the American people are more than ready to put ugly racial division behind us as we build an America as good as its ideals.
