Listen to a complete recording of the call HERE
Washington, D.C. — Saturday, August 3, will be the fifth anniversary of the shooting at an El Paso, Texas Walmart, when a white nationalist motivated by anti-immigrant fears and conspiracies killed 23 people.
Local and national leaders who track white nationalism, immigration conspiracies, and extremist rhetoric gathered on a virtual press call to reflect on the fifth anniversary of the El Paso Walmart shooting and to discuss the lack of progress in addressing the continued spread and mainstreaming of the same types of dangerous conspiracies and disinformation that motivated the shooter.
Fernando Garcia, Executive Director at Border Network for Human Rights, said: “The conditions that led to the terrorist, racist attack at Walmart that took the lives of 23 members of our community are still prevalent today, even more so than five years ago. We must continue to denounce and remind ourselves that what occurred on August 3rd, 2019, was not a circumstantial event; it was the result of systemic problems in our nation, called white supremacy, hate, and xenophobia.”
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said: “Five years after the horror of the El Paso attack, this extremism has become even more pervasive and normalized in our politics and society. Rooted in white nationalism, anti-immigrant hate, and antisemitism, these conspiracy theories threaten each and every community and our very democracy. Our leaders have a fundamental responsibility not only to reject and confront this deadly extremism, but to advance the sorts of policies that counter hate and violence and build the democratic resilience we desperately need to keep our communities safe.”
Dr. Elizabeth Yates, Senior Researcher, Democracy Protection, Human Rights First, said: “Five years ago this week, we witnessed the devastating impact of this rhetoric in El Paso when a white supremacist killed 23 people – specifically targeting the Latino community. Since that time, the ‘invasion’ and ‘replacement’ rhetoric that inspired his attack has not diminished in our dialogue. Instead, its purveyors have escalated its use. I want to reiterate our call for Members of Congress and others in leadership to stop perpetuating these extremist conspiracy theories and to hold accountable those who do.”
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO of HIAS, said: “HIAS, founded over 120 years ago as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, honors the memory of the 23 people killed in El Paso, on August 3, 2019. They were not a symbol, they were individuals: young and old, children, teachers, soccer coaches, parents trying to save their baby. Five years later, the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy that motivated the El Paso Walmart shooting has become mainstream and increasingly dominant among right-wing politicians and media. We must call out false ‘invasion’ narratives, demand truth and honesty, and above all, value the contributions of immigrants to our country.”
Zachary Mueller, Sr. Research Director at America’s Voice and moderator for the call, said: “Tragically, the attack in El Paso has been part of a larger pattern of similarly motivated deadly political violence from Charlottesville to Pittsburgh, Poway, Buffalo, and beyond. In the five years since the attack, the normalization of the bigoted conspiracy that inspired it has only gone more mainstream. On full display at the NABJ event yesterday, where Trump used of the white nationalist ‘invasion’ conspiracy to try to appeal to Black voters, is that it is the same bigoted lie used by the domestic terrorist who targeted Buffalo, New York, in 2022 in an anti-Black mass shooting that killed 10.”
An advance copy of the forthcoming joint report on the 118th Congresses role in advancing the same bigoted conspiracy theory as the El Paso shooter endorsed by America’s Voice, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Bend the Arc, HIAS, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Presente.org, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Western States Center, can be made available upon request.
