Trump, Corporate Involvement and the Republican Convention
by: Cristóbal J. Alex, Latino Victory Project President
*This article was originally published on Univision.
From the moment Trump started spreading hate against Latinos, violence against our community has increased. With his open and outward racism, Trump has helped to normalize and propagate an attitude that makes it acceptable to treat Latinos, immigrants, women, African Americans, and Muslims as second-class citizens who don’t deserve dignity or respect. Trump’s racist rhetoric and hate are putting Latinos in danger and severely damaging our country.
That is why Latino Victory Project launched a campaign to ask corporations like Microsoft to withdraw their financial support from a Trump-led Republican convention. And we need you to help us by signing this petition asking Microsoft to take action.
We know that Trump doesn’t have a problem insulting us or making our lives impossible. Trump’s vision for America is one in which our nation moves backwards to some of the darkest times in history in our fight for civil rights.
By giving money or in-kind contributions to a Trump-led Republican convention, companies like Microsoft are helping give Trump’s anti-immigrant and anti-Latino rhetoric an even bigger platform. They are helping to finance Trump’s hateful propaganda at a large scale. A Trump-led Republican convention goes against the values of inclusion and diversity that Microsoft and many other corporations say they value and prioritize. And it’s our job to hold them accountable.
We’ve seen companies like Macy’s, ESPN, PGA, Univisión, and entrepreneurs like Chef José Andrés stop doing business with Trump. Now we have to make sure that other companies stand with Latinos, and don’t give their money to a Trump-led Republican convention. It’s not beneficial for any company to have their brand associated with discrimination and hate. Especially when Latinos, immigrants, women, African Americans and Muslims are such good consumers. Together we make up a high percentage of those who consume Microsoft and other companies’ products. Latinos alone have over a trillion dollars purchasing power. These companies can’t ignore us.
Donald Trump isn’t the only danger that our community is facing in November. There are many others who won’t insult us to our face but who support policies that would negatively affect our families and are rooted in the same hateful mentality. The open and transparent hate that Trump espouses towards Latinos and immigrants is unacceptable, and we can’t let Mr. Trump normalize it. If we can’t come together against him, how are we going to fight against subtler forms of discrimination and hate?
Microsoft must stand with us and help us fight against this dangerous mentality that could badly damage our country and our loved ones. The technology giant has the possibility to be a leader in this campaign and emerge as an example to follow for other companies.