LATINOS SLAM ADS

WASHINGTON - The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights membership organization in the country, is urging some Democratic and Republican candidates to stop using ads stereotyping and denigrating Latinos and other targeted minorities for political gain.

“The ads coming from certain states are offensive and there must not be any room for discrimination or stereotypes in elections,” said LULAC National President Margaret Moran. “LULAC would like to have the ads taken down immediately. Intolerance and discrimination are nothing new to Latinos, but our country's anti-Latino sentiment has escalated in recent months. Latinos are tired of being the punching bag. We are tired of Congress ignoring our endless calls for immigration reform. It's time for us to stand up and say that we won't tolerate being the punching bag anymore.”

LULAC has been working with various coalition Latino organizations to make sure and get Latinos to vote in this November’s elections. At a press conference last week, a coalition of national Latino organizations issued an urgent call to Latino voters—who are likely to be key factors in several highly contested elections across the nation—to participate in the upcoming midterm election.

The coalition members also outlined their plans to energize Hispanic turnout in November through a series of new public service announcements, a national voter hotline, and stepped-up get-out-the-vote efforts focused on transforming voter anger toward the tone of this year’s campaigns into action. The event gathered a number of national Latino organization engaged in voter registration, education, and protection, including Democracia U.S.A., Hispanic Federation, Mi Familia Vota, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), Voto Latino, and NCLR (National Council of La Raza).

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating through 880 LULAC councils nationwide.