On Anniversary, Voto Latino Hosts Vigil for El Paso Shooting Victims Urging Americans to Rise Above Hate

The program was supported by artists and organizations such as Los Tigres del Norte, Marc Anthony, Becky G, Luis Fonsi, Zoe Saldana, Maná, Sebastian Yatra, Tr3 Elemento, Rosario Dawson, March For Our Lives, GLAAD, Rock The Vote, and more.

Washington, DC – Yesterday, on the one year anniversary of the El Paso shooting, Voto Latino Foundation hosted a virtual vigil in honor of the victims encouraging Americans to vote out hate in November. María Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, was joined by Representative Veronica Escobar (TX-16), March for Our Lives Southwest Regional Organizing Director Amanda Schuerman, and Voto Latino Director of Organizing and Partnerships Brianna Carmen. The organization memorialized those massacred, provided voter registration resources for attendees as well as collected donations in support of the CEA Survivors en Acción Scholarship Fund, created by Community En Acción and the Paso del Norte Community Foundation.

“One year ago today, the Latinx community was attacked in a heinous act of terror inspired by rhetoric coming from the president of the United States,” said María Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino. “Despite the violence our community experienced on that day, yesterday’s conversation honoring the victims was rooted in hope for the future. The Latinx community has been under attack since Donald Trump came down the steps in his gilded tower. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell were silent about the massacre and media coverage was negligible, but this was a day to honor the victims of an attack on the entire Latinx community. We are resilient, we will continue la lucha, and we will make our voices heard wherever there is injustice and oppression.”

Artists such as Marc Anthony, Los Tigres del Norte, Luis Fonsi, Becky G, Maná, Zoe Saldana, Sebastian Yatra, Tr3 Elemento, Rosario Dawson, Ulices Chaidez, Enrique Santos, and Akwid shared and uplifted the program and additional resources. The vigil was also supported by March for Our Lives, Rock the Vote, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, ACLU of Texas, RAICES, Amor Por Juarez, Brady United, GLAAD, and SEIU. The coalition represents Latinx diverse roots but a uniform demand: to stop hate crimes against the Latinx community. 

The vigil was streamed live on Voto Latino’s Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube pages and can be rewatched at https://youtu.be/ej1A9QQ4IzI. Voto Latino created a promotional video for the event, which can be seen at https://twitter.com/votolatino/status/1290324549217615889. Legendary norteño artists Los Tigres del Norte aired a public service announcement in support of the Latinx community in El Paso and urging Latinx people across the country to vote against racism and hate. The PSA can be viewed at https://twitter.com/i/status/1290366523198984192. 

As of August 3rd, Voto Latino has registered 239,706 voters for the 2020 cycle, with 140,813 coming from Texas alone. 72% of those are between the ages of 18 and 34. In 2018, Voto Latino was directly responsible for 15% of all new voters registrations in Texas. This cycle, the organization is poised to surpass its goal of 500,000 new registrations nationwide.

###

Voto Latino Foundation (VLF) is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)3 organization that empowers the Latinx community to claim a better future through civic participation.