Franklin, WI – A statement from Forward Latino President Darryl Morin on the tragedy in Gilroy and attacks on Baltimore. “This morning we awoke to news of the mass shooting on our West coast, in Gilroy, California, a rural, agrarian community, during its annual festival. As of now, police are reporting three people murdered including little six-year-old Steven Romero. Twelve others are reported wounded including Steven’s mother. To them and their families, we send our prayers. On our East coast, another attack continues to take place. It is an attack by our nation’s President on the city and the people of Baltimore, Maryland. This President tweeted that Maryland was the “Worst in the USA”, “no human being would want to live there,” and more. Baltimore, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is predominantly African American. He made no mention of the city’s many successes or the men and women who live in there and work at the Pentagon, or who are working every day to provide for their families and who aspire to realize the American Dream. This President is no stranger to division. From the earliest days of his campaign when he offered to pay the legal fees of Americans who would attack other Americans who were not his supporters, labeled Mexicans “drug dealers, murderers and rapists,” stated some of the white supremacists at Charlottesville were “very fine people, ” to telling female members of Congress to “go back where you came from.” This President has complied a long public record of divisive statements which have contributed directly to an increase in the number of hate crimes in our country. So pronounced has the impact of his inflammatory rhetoric been, that researchers at the University of North Texas, in a 2019 study, found that counties that hosted Trump rallies realized a 226 percent increase in reported hate crimes compared to similar counties that did not host a Trump rally. There is no place for hate in the United States. Whether we live in rural or urban areas of our country, Mr. President, we are Gilroy, we are Baltimore, we are America!