Virginia Latino Leader Walter Tejada: “Latino voters won’t forget the hatred [Trump] has sown or the harmful policies he has embraced”

The following is from Virginia Latino leader and former, long-time Arlington County Board member Walter Tejada.

Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has endlessly insulted minority groups in this country with his hateful and divisive rhetoric.  Rather than using his national platform to inspire people and bring them together, he has used it to bring ugly prejudices to light–to divide us and make us fearful of each other.  This is not what will “make America great again”.  Our nation is already great because although we may have different backgrounds, we understand that our diversity is a positive value and makes us stronger.  Donald Trump has made our Latino community feel unwelcome in our own country that we love, he has made our children fearful and the subject of the bullying rhetoric that he spews, and has made our neighbors fearful that a ‘deportation force’ could break up our families.

As Trump makes a desperate attempt to appeal to minority communities in the face of bad polls, Latino voters won’t forget the hatred he has sown or the harmful policies he has embraced.  When he asks what do we have to lose by supporting him, the answer is our dignity, principles and respect!  A Donald Trump presidency would mean a country that is more divided at a time when we need to come together, a country with mass deportations and millions of job losses.  We have to stand up and tell the world that America is still a nation of immigrants – and of values – by rejecting Donald Trump’s hate-filled candidacy. Enough is enough, ¡ya basta!

J. Walter Tejada