After this past weekend's back-to-back massacres in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio which has left 31 people dead, Alex Nogales, the president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), is firmly placing the blame of this carnage on President Trump.
"Let us be clear. These mass shootings against innocent people, immigrants, Latinos, and other people of color, are not a coincidence. They are happening because Trump is continually fueling white nationalist terrorism, bigotry and hate," said Nogales. "He is sowing constant fear among vulnerable communities, and it has gotten so bad that our children have become traumatized and are afraid to venture out of their homes because they and their parents will be killed," said Nogales.
In the case of El Paso, the city is diverse with a population of 80% Hispanic. Six of those killed were Mexican. The shooter, an unapologetic 21-year old white gunman, drove nine hours to the border city and opened fire on Hispanic families, babies, and the elderly. It is believed that the gunman wrote and published a four-page, hate-filled, anti-immigrant document on the website 8Chan. Consequently, the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terror and hate crime.
"The gunman's language in that document is almost identical to the insensitive, xenophobic, narrow-minded, racist words we often hear from Trump," continued Nogales. "In that document, the gunman wants to force immigrants to return home to their countries, and writes of an 'invasion' of Hispanic immigrants, claiming they are taking away American jobs and diminishing our quality of life. Trump has said the same thing and repeatedly referenced an 'invasion' of migrants coming from Central America to seek asylum, and that they need to be pushed back from where they came from.
"Incredibly, Trump has cited mental illness, violent video games, and the media as causes to this weekend's mass shootings, but has yet to acknowledge the divisiveness of his own racist ideologies, and how he is enabling these killers to commit atrocities against children, unarmed people of color, and religious congregations," asserted Nogales.
because Congressman Elijah Cummings repeatedly called him out for his racism. Trump has not abated his attacks on Cummings and Baltimore, and his supporters in and out of Congress have refused to criticize him and hold him accountable for his words. Just the opposite, they alibi for him.
