Rep. Castro Invites Latino Hate Crime Survivor to SOTU
NEWS. Rep. Joaquin Castro has invited Priscilla Martinez to the State of the Union address later this week to bring attention to the rise in white nationalism and the impacts it's having on the Latino community and beyond.
WHO. Priscilla is the wife of Aaron Martinez who was killed in a hate crime last year in Forney, Texas. Mr. Martinez was attacked by a neighbor who had expressed anti-Latino sentiments in the lead-up to the murder. The neighbor, Trevor McEuen shot Mr. Martinez multiple times as he sat in his truck. McEuen later fled leading to a standoff with SWAT team officers.
READ. Arturo reported on Aaron Martinez’s brutal murder here.
WHY IT MATTERS. Neither the Kaufman County Sheriff’s office nor the District Attorney has filed hate crime charges against McEuen despite the clear Latinophobic nature of the murder. We reached out to the Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Department of Justice to ask why no hate crime charges have been sought. We received no response.
WHAT IT MEANS. During a press conference last week, we asked Rep. Castro and Mrs. Martinez what they think the Latinophobic misinformation about immigrants means for our communities in the next 10 years. Here’s what they had to say.
From Rep. Castro —
“The more right-wing lies that are told, the more conspiracy theories that are told to incite ear and resentment among Americans about immigrants - that is going to affect the Latino community. That puts targets on the backs of Latinos. So I expect that we will likely see, unfortunately, more hate crimes because of that. And more violence against Latinos because of that. And that’s why it’s incredibly irresponsible for Donald Trump and Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton and others to lie about who Latinos are. We gotta make sure it stops.”
“In terms of the future in the next ten years - that’s why we have elections in this country and in this state. We have to elect people who are not going to spread those falsehoods and those lies that put people’s lives in danger. That’s the ultimate answer to all of this is to go in a different direction. But, people should be able to come together regardless of political party to say that this hate is unacceptable.
“In the meantime, it’s dangerous. So many people have told me over the past 1-2 years, especially now because they feel the tension that is rising because of this dangerous inflammatory rhetoric. And, like I said, my fear is you’re gonna see more cases like this.”
From Mrs. Martinez —
“Like April [daughter] said earlier, the fear that she has being brown. She goes to school and she’s in fear of being there. You don’t know what’s going to happen when it’s going to happen. We need to take control. Not only with hate crimes but gun control. In the State of Texas people are walking around with open arms [guns] they can carry and that just makes it easier for crimes like this to happen. I fear for my kids. April is 15, my son is 2. What’s it going to be like for him in 10 years? He’s going to wonder, can I go to the movies? Can I go bowling? Can I go to a football game? You know, things of that nature.
“I feel like we Latinos and Latinas have a target on our back and we need to speak up. I was nervous to do this but at the end of the day, I was like, I have to be the voice. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I have to speak up for the ones that can’t speak anymore. That’s why I agreed to do this. I was nervous because my kids' faces are out there and my face is out there. But at the end of the day, I have to do what’s right and what’s going to hopefully benefit my kids in the future.”->
BIDEN. We reached out to the White House for comment on the rise in hate crimes against Latinos. We received no response.