Voto Latino Stands with AAPI Community Against Racist Violence
Washington, DC – Voto Latino today strongly condemned the race-based and deadly attacks erupting across the country, vowing to stand alongside the American Asian Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to demand increased protections for those targeted due to race or ethnicity and immediate accountability from those committing the crimes and those seen as fueling the threat with their language.
“Words from our leadership matter because they set the nation’s tone and, in some instances, inspire the most heinous of crimes,” said Voto Latino co-founding president and CEO María Teresa Kumar. “At Voto Latino we stand strong with our Asian American community, and we mourn with you. We, too, know white nativists’ specter all too well, and stand committed to combatting white nationalism, which is our country’s greatest threat to achieve our promise of unity.”
President Joe Biden used his first primetime national address to spotlight the issue and the urgency for its conclusion, saying, “our fellow Americans are on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets.
“It’s wrong, it’s un-American,” Biden stressed, “and it must stop.”
In 2020, Voto Latino Foundation and Asian Pacific Islander American Vote created the Immigrant Neighbor Fund to protect immigrants by providing direct financial support to families excluded from receiving COVID-19 relief funds from Congress’s CARES Act, including some of those senselessly targeted for violent attack in recent months. To donate to or apply for a grant from the Fund, please visit www.immigrantneighborfund.org
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Voto Latino is a grassroots political organization focused on educating and empowering a new generation of Latinx voters, as well as creating a more robust and inclusive democracy. Through innovative digital campaigns, culturally relevant programs and authentic voices, we shepherd the Latinx community towards the full realization of its political power.