PRESS RELEASE  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  June 5, 2020	Contact: Sandra Hernandez (310) 386-5768 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

NHLA STATEMENT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE BLACK COMMUNITY

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of more than 40 of the most influential national Hispanic civil rights organizations in the country, stands shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in the Black community to fight for the rights, safety and dignity of all Black people in America, to live, to prosper, to breathe. When your community is in danger, our community is in danger. When your lives are in danger, our lives are in danger. Quite simply: Your Fight is Our Fight. We say emphatically, Black Lives Matter.

As in so many other areas, we are your allies in the fight against racism and flawed law enforcement practices in the United States. We all suffer from the ongoing lack of respect for people of color that manifests in innumerable ways each day. This moment, including the ongoing righteous demonstrations in response to the violent murder of George Floyd, calls us to not only support the outcry, but pledge to work hand in hand toward solutions, whether on the protest line, at the ballot box, or in the halls of Congress.

We share a common agenda in this area that also stems from many intersecting realities. State violence, especially by racist law enforcement personnel, has cost the lives of untold numbers of Latinas and Latinos, historically and contemporaneously, including Afro-Latinos. We stand in solidarity with Black communities in the U.S. in efforts to eliminate police violence. Afro-Latinidad is at the very root of our ancestry and experiences in this hemisphere. We must not only fight against anti-Blackness, we must be pro-Black in words and actions.

Our commitment to work in solidarity with the Black community has deep roots in our shared civil rights history, and we know that our struggles are inextricably linked.  The struggle for reform is long-term, and we will continue to stand with you until we see justice in our country. Justice for George Floyd. Justice for Ahmaud Arbery. Justice for Breonna Taylor. Justice for all those whose names we must remember. Justice for Black America.

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(The policy positions of NHLA do not reflect the views of every member organization, but reflect the decisions of NHLA as a whole.)