Two years ago this month, a gunman went into an El Paso Walmart and shot and killed 23 people. He posted a hate-filled rant against Latinos online before committing the mass shooting.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) calls the 2019 massacre “the deadliest hate-motivated mass murder of Latinos in modern history” — and they argue it didn’t come out of nowhere.
Federal data shows a rise in hate crimes against Latinos in recent years at the same time we saw former president Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric heat up.
Now, MALDEF is launching a new initiative to combat bias and racism against Latinos.
To learn more about the program, The Show spoke with MALDEF president and general counsel Thomas A. Seanz, who said the shooting in El Paso can’t be seen in a vacuum.
