{"id":1588939,"date":"2024-04-03T23:15:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T23:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/?p=311381"},"modified":"2024-04-03T23:15:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T23:15:08","slug":"as-long-as-god-gives-us-strength-we-are-going-to-keep-working-for-our-community-baltimores-latino-latine-community-responds-to-key-bridge-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/04\/03\/as-long-as-god-gives-us-strength-we-are-going-to-keep-working-for-our-community-baltimores-latino-latine-community-responds-to-key-bridge-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018As long as God gives us strength, we are going to keep working for our community\u2019: Baltimore\u2019s Latino\/Latine community responds to Key Bridge crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Baltimore\u2019s Latino\/Latine community rallies to support those affected by Key Bridge disaster\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/2IER5xilCq4dKnNtALBIPj?si=f2c45214f6ac4266&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">When the iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed around 1:30am on Tuesday, March 26, eight men who were working on the bridge at the time were plunged into the cold waters of the Patapsco River. Two of those men were recovered alive, six were not. <a href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/missing-presumed-dead-workers-from-key-bridge-werent-informed-of-mayday-call\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">As TRNN previously reported<\/a>, all existing evidence points to the fact that these workers\u2014who were working for a non-union contractor, Brawner Builders, filling potholes on the bridge\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2024\/3\/27\/francis_scott_key_bridge_collapse_baltimore\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">did not receive any warning<\/a> from emergency dispatch that the shipping vessel Dali was about to plow into the bridge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Baltimore reels from the shock of the bridge collapse, as investigations begin into the root causes of the accident, and as we begin to take stock of the seismic economic and potential environmental impacts that this catastrophic accident will have, the families of the six workers who died are mourning an incalculable loss. As Clara Longo de Frietas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebaltimorebanner.com\/community\/transportation\/victims-key-bridge-collapse-3L35PNJLQVDWVBAO3Q5GTGSXTA\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writes at <em>The Baltimore Banner<\/em><\/a>, \u201cAll of the men confirmed or presumed to be dead had emigrated from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador or Mexico. They were Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35; Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26; Miguel Luna, 49; Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38; Jose Mynor Lopez, 35; and one as-yet-unnamed man\u2026 All of them came to Baltimore for a better life.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amidst this tragedy, volunteers, community organizers, immigrant and Latino\/Latine justice organizations, businesses, and more have responded with tireless efforts to support the families of the deceased workers, and to provide support for Baltimore\u2019s Latino\/Latine and immigrant communities in general. In this special bilingual podcast, recorded in Spanish and English at El Taquito Mexicano restaurant in Fells Point, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with a panel of community and immigrant justice organizers and members of Baltimore\u2019s Latino\/Latine community to discuss those efforts, what we know about the men who were working on that bridge, and what this tragedy tells us about the plight of immigrant workers in Baltimore and around the US. Panelists include: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ricardortiznews\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ricardo Ortiz<\/a>, vice president of the Centro de Apoyo Para la Superaci\u00f3n del Inmigrante (CAPSI); <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/susana.barrios3\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Susana Barrios<\/a>, vice president of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lrjc.org\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Latino Racial Justice Circle<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/juancarlos.crespo.946\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Carlos Crespo<\/a>, who volunteers at CAPSI; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southeastcdc.org\/who-we-are\/staff\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lucia Islas<\/a>, president of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/ComiteLatinoDeBaltimore\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Comit\u00e9 Latino de Baltimore<\/a>; Norma Martinez, a high-school student in Baltimore, born in Honduras (and Max\u2019s foster daughter); Claudia, co-owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eltaquitomexicanorestaurante\/?locale=es_LA\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">El Taquito Mexicano<\/a>; Victor, co-owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eltaquitomexicanorestaurante\/?locale=es_LA\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">El Taquito Mexicano<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.qgiv.com\/for\/265-mima-keybridgeemergencyresponse\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Baltimore Immigrant Community Fund Key Bridge Emergency Response<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez<br>Post-Production: Alina Nehlich<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez:<\/strong> Welcome, everyone, to The Real News Network Podcast. My name is Maximillian Alvarez, I\u2019m the editor-in-chief here at The Real News, and it\u2019s so great to have you all with us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Bienvenidos a todos al podcast del Real News Network. Mi nombre es Maximillian Alvarez, soy el jefe de redacci\u00f3n del Real News Network, y estoy feliz que ustedes est\u00e1n aqu\u00ed con nosotros.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A reminder that The Real News is a viewer and listener supported network, and it\u2019s only with your support that we are able to keep doing this work, so please support us if you can, head on over to <a href=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/donate\">therealnews.com\/donate<\/a> and donate today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Este es un recordatorio de que el Real News es una publicaci\u00f3n que solo existe con el apoyo de nuestra audiencia, y no podemos continuar nuestro trabajo sin sus donaciones. Pues, por favor, ven al <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/donate\"><em>therealnews.com\/donate<\/em><\/a><em>.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Six men, immigrant construction workers from Central America, died in the catastrophic Key Bridge collapse last Tuesday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Seis hombres, trabajadores de construcci\u00f3n, inmigrantes de Centroam\u00e9rica, murieron en el colapso del puente de Francis Scott Key en Baltimore la semana pasada.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know the names of five of the six victims. They were:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, age 38, who immigrated to the US from Honduras<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Miguel Luna, age 49, who immigrated here from El Salvador<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jose Mynor Lopez, age 35, originally from Guatemala<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, age 26, also immigrated here from Guatemala<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, age 35, originally from Mexico\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The sixth worker who perished is currently unidentified, but is believed to be from Mexico as well<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sabemos los nombres de cinco de los seis fallecidos. Ellos son:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><em>Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38 a\u00f1os, de Honduras<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Miguel Luna, 49 a\u00f1os, de El Salvador<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Jose Mynor Lopez, 35 a\u00f1os, de Guatemala<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26 a\u00f1os, de Guatemala tambi\u00e9n\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35 a\u00f1os, originalmente de Mexico\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Pensamos que el sexto fallecido es de M\u00e9xico tambi\u00e9n.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Our hearts are broken for these men and their families. While the media will quickly forget about them, members of the Latino community here in Baltimore are mobilizing to support their families. Three days after the bridge collapse, I had the honor of sitting down with community organizers and representatives of multiple Latino and immigrant justice organizations in the city.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sentimos mucho dolor en nuestros corazones ahorita, y nuestros pensamientos est\u00e1n con estos hombres y sus familias. La media va a olvidarlos\u2026 eso sabemos\u2026 pero Latinos aqu\u00ed en Baltimore, miembros de la comunidad, se est\u00e1n movilizando ahorita para apoyar a esas familias ahora y en la futura. Tres d\u00edas despu\u00e9s del colapso del puente, yo tuve el honor de sentarme y hablar con organizadores de comunidad y representantes de varias organizaciones de justicia para latinos e inmigrantes en la ciudad.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I spoke with\u2026 Y<em>o hable con<\/em>\u2026 Ricardo Ortiz, vice president of the Centro de Apoyo Para la Superaci\u00f3n del Inmigrante (CAPSI); Susana Barrios, vice president of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lrjc.org\/\">Latino Racial Justice Circle<\/a>; Carlos Crespo, who volunteers at CAPSI; Lucia Islas, president of Comit\u00e9 Latino de Baltimore. I also spoke with Claudia and Victor, co-owners of El Taquito Mexicano, the restaurant where we had this conversation\u2014and my own foster daughter, who herself is an undocumented high school student in Baltimore, Norma Martinez, also joined in on the conversation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is our conversation that we had, which we conducted in Spanish and in English. I really hope folks listen to it, and I really apologize for my bad Spanish. Obviously, I\u2019m not a native speaker, but I tried my best.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Aqu\u00ed est\u00e1 nuestra entrevista, que conducimos en espa\u00f1ol e ingl\u00e9s. Espero que la gente vaya a escucharla, y disculpa mi horrible espa\u00f1ol\u2026 Obviamente, no soy un hispanohablante nativo, pero hice mi mejor esfuerzo\u2026&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez: <\/strong>Alright, well, I am sitting here. It&#8217;s around 8:00 PM on Friday, March 29th. We&#8217;re gathered at El Taquito Mexicano in Fells Point in Baltimore at the end of a very long and hard week.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Estamos sentando en el Taquito Mexicano, aqu\u00ed en Baltimore, en Fells Point, despu\u00e9s de una semana muy larga e intensa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we&#8217;re sitting here as a community. I am sitting at this table with some incredible people, heroes of the community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Estoy sentando en esta mesa con gente incre\u00edble, miembros de la comunidad, quien est\u00e1 luchando para la comunidad, para trabajadores y familias de trabajadores, como los de los seis trabajadores que se murieron esta semana.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re here fighting with everything they&#8217;ve got when they&#8217;ve got their own families, when they&#8217;ve got their own jobs, but they&#8217;ve been fighting all week for this community, for families, and for working families, and for workers like the six brothers that we lost on that bridge this week. And so, I wanted to just start by going around the table, and before we get into, you know&#8230; We&#8217;re going to ask our guests what we know about these workers. But, of course, we want to give space to the family more than anything. So, please, we&#8217;re going to provide more information to you all about that. But please respect those families and please respect that we are trying to give them space right now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Vamos a presentar m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n sobre los trabajadores cuando la tenemos, pero obviamente queremos dar espacio a las familias ahorita. Y por favor, todos quien est\u00e1 escuchando ahorita, env\u00eden tus sentimientos buenos, pero tambi\u00e9n, por favor, dale espacio a las familias tambi\u00e9n. Y vamos a hablar en la mesa ahorita. <\/em>\u00bfC\u00f3mo estamos? Como latinos en esta ciudad, como latinos en Am\u00e9rica, como miembros de esta comunidad en Baltimore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How are we doing\u2014as Latinos, as members of this community, as brown people in America right now after this tragedy? So, I&#8217;m going to shut up, and we&#8217;re going to go around the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ricardo Ortiz: <\/strong><em>Hola, gracias. Yo soy Ricardo. Vivo en Baltimore desde hace cinco a\u00f1os y creo que esta semana ha sido amargo-dulce. Primero, muy triste porque perdimos a miembros de nuestra comunidad, personas que como nosotros trabajan d\u00eda a d\u00eda para sacar adelante a su familia, sacar adelante el pa\u00eds. Muchas familias inmigrantes estamos aqu\u00ed por un mejor futuro y el presenciado esta cat\u00e1strofe que ha afectado nuestra comunidad ha sido muy triste.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s been a very hard moment for us as a community here in Baltimore because we lost six people of our community. And as immigrants, we are here for our families, for a better life, or for work. But at the same time, it is very powerful to see how the Baltimore community supports us, and we can see how the people here are with us, and that makes us feel like we are part of this community also. So, that&#8217;s what I can say about how it&#8217;s going on with our community. But also, I think it&#8217;s a great opportunity to show the reality that our community faces. A lot of the community here works here just to make a better life, but the pay is very bad. They don&#8217;t have enough resources for them and their families. So, I think it&#8217;s a lot to face right now for our community. But I&#8217;m very happy to share this table with a lot of people like me who are very interested in supporting our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y dentro de esto, amargo y dulce, ha sido tambi\u00e9n muy poderoso ver que hemos vivido el respaldo de la comunidad, porque nos han apoyado mucho. Inmediatamente, las autoridades salieron a apoyarnos y tambi\u00e9n hemos visto c\u00f3mo la comunidad se ha acercado a nosotros para decir: \u00ab\u00bfHey, qu\u00e9 necesita tu comunidad?\u00bb. Ha sido como muchos sabores, pero estamos tambi\u00e9n aprovechando el momento para decir las necesidades que enfrenta nuestra comunidad. Muchos venimos a trabajar por una mejor vida o por nuestras familias que viven en nuestros pa\u00edses de origen, y ahora nos damos cuenta de que la gente ya est\u00e1 poniendo atenci\u00f3n a que las personas trabajadoras no les pagan lo suficiente, no les dan los art\u00edculos necesarios para protegerse en su lugar de trabajo, pero tambi\u00e9n las autoridades a veces \u00abse hacen de la vista gorda\u00bb, como dij\u00e9ramos en M\u00e9xico, de que saben que estamos enfrentando esto, tienen poder, pero no hace nada para cambiar las cosas. Pero a la misma vez ver c\u00f3mo estoy con otras personas que nos hemos empoderado y nos hemos acercado para unir fuerzas y decir hasta un \u00a1ya basta!, pero tambi\u00e9n las cosas no est\u00e1n bien y tenemos que hacer algo desde nuestra comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez: <\/strong>Y tambi\u00e9n, lo siento, podemos introducirnos tambi\u00e9n y nuestras organizaciones, si quieren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ricardo Ortiz:<\/strong> <em>Claro. Yo soy Ricardo Ortiz, trabajo en una organizaci\u00f3n que se llama el Centro de los Derechos del Migrante. Somos una organizaci\u00f3n binacional que tenemos oficinas en M\u00e9xico y en los Estados Unidos. Aqu\u00ed en Estados Unidos tenemos oficina en Baltimore y nosotros nos enfocamos en apoyar a las personas trabajadoras, especialmente a las personas trabajadoras con visas temporales o seasonal workers, que vienen un tiempo a trabajar y regresan a M\u00e9xico. Y que eso tambi\u00e9n es otra parte muy triste que enfrentamos, que a pesar de que estas personas siguen un proceso migratorio para poder venir a trabajar con un permiso de trabajo a este pa\u00eds, la situaci\u00f3n que enfrentan es terrible y muchas veces tienen m\u00e1s violaciones que las personas que a lo mejor viven ac\u00e1, entonces, es muy interesante.Y tambi\u00e9n estoy apoyando a CAPSI, que somos una organizaci\u00f3n local. Somos un grupo, un colectivo de l\u00edderes y lideresas en Baltimore que queremos empoderar a la comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, my name is Ricardo Ortiz. I work with Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, or CDM. We are a binational organization, or nonprofit, and we support immigrant workers, and specific seasonal workers, or workers with H2A or B visas here in the United States. And it&#8217;s very interesting to see the other faces of the workers who came here with a work permission that also faced very difficult situation in their spaces of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Susana Barrios:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Buenas noches, mi nombre es Susana Barrios. Trabajo para una organizaci\u00f3n sin fines de lucro que trabaja para la protecci\u00f3n y abogac\u00eda de las personas con discapacidades.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good evening. My name is Susana Barrios. I work for a nonprofit organization that works\u2026 it&#8217;s a protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tambi\u00e9n soy vicepresidenta de otra organizaci\u00f3n que se llama Latino Racial Justice Circle y soy voluntaria tambi\u00e9n con CAPSI.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am also the vice president of Latino Racial Justice Circle, and I also volunteer with CAPSI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Me siento ahora culpable. Me siento mal porque quisiera ayudar m\u00e1s, pero a la vez estoy en mi casa c\u00f3moda y s\u00e9 que hay muchas personas trabajando, entonces me siento mal por no poder ayudar m\u00e1s.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, right now, I feel guilty because I am home. I feel bad for everybody, but I am home, and I am worried about the first responders that are out there working. And I wish there was more I could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Bueno, <\/em><em>mi nombre es Carlos Crespo. Yo soy participante con CAPSI. Me gusta ayudar mucho a la comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Hello, my name is Carlos Crespo. I&#8217;m a participant with CAPSI, and I like to help the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Soy un padre de familia que tengo una ni\u00f1a con discapacidad, pero eso no nos detiene a mi esposa y a m\u00ed para seguir luchando por nuestra comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) I am a father of a young lady that has a disability, but that doesn&#8217;t stop my wife and myself from helping the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y sinceramente, esta semana yo me he sentido un poco triste porque no tiene mucho que pasamos la situaci\u00f3n de las familias que perdieron los dos ni\u00f1os y el primo<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And sincerely, this week, I have been feeling sad because it also hasn&#8217;t been very long since we helped a family that lost two young children and their cousin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Pero yo lo digo una vez m\u00e1s, nosotros estamos hechos de acero porque as\u00ed como nos caemos, nos levantamos y seguimos adelante. Y afortunadamente, no necesitamos pedir del Gobierno para poder seguir luchando y trabajando.<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And I&#8217;ll say it again, we are made of steel, because we might fall down, but just like we fall down, we will get up, and we don&#8217;t need the government to keep on going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Porque no estamos acostumbrados de estirar la mano y pedirle al pa\u00eds, sino nosotros, aunque sea tres trabajos, pero nos gusta trabajar y no estar pidi\u00e9ndole al Gobierno, como mucha gente piensa que nosotros los hispanos vivimos del Gobierno.<\/em><em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Because we are not used to holding out our hands and asking for help from the government, because a lot of people think that we like to live off the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y esperemos que realmente en muy corto tiempo encontremos a un C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez o a un Martin Luther King, que luch\u00f3 por las comunidades. Yo s\u00e9 que por ah\u00ed anda, pero todav\u00eda no lo encontramos. Y esperemos que realmente encontremos a un l\u00edder como ellos, y yo s\u00e9 que nuestras comunidades van a cambiar.<\/em><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And let&#8217;s hope that, very soon, we can find a Cesar Chavez or a Martin Luther King. I know that that person is there. They were people that fought very hard for our communities, and we are hoping to find them soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez:<\/strong> <em>Y hoy es el d\u00eda de C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez \u00bfNo?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Susana Barrios:<\/strong> Oh, wow! OK.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez:<\/strong> <em>Yo solo quer\u00eda decir que estoy sentando en esta mesa con gente as\u00ed. Todos. No, contin\u00faa, por favor, pero quer\u00eda decirlo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I wanted to say that I&#8217;m sitting at a table full of those people. You guys are it. We are it. You are it. You are fighting the same fight, and you are reminding people out there that we are the change we&#8217;ve been waiting for. We are the heroes we&#8217;ve been waiting for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Somos los h\u00e9roes para quienes hemos estado esperando.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God, did I butcher that? Did that make sense?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Estoy sentado en esta mesa con h\u00e9roes. Lo siento, no quer\u00eda interrumpir, pero solo quer\u00eda decirlo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> Es que yo creo que estamos cansados, que nos utilicen nada m\u00e1s como animales, que nada m\u00e1s vengamos a hacer dinero. Me estoy cansando de que nos vean como dinero, nada m\u00e1s, como pol\u00edtica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) I think we&#8217;re getting tired of people using us only as animals. I&#8217;m honestly getting tired that they only see us as a way to make money or seeing us as a political tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y sabemos que hablan de nosotros cuando vienen las elecciones, pasan las elecciones y se olvidan de uno, pero somos humanos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And they talk about us only when there&#8217;s an election, but then, they forget about us. But we are human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y sabemos, no es el tema que vamos a tocar, pero nosotros fuimos los m\u00e1s afectados de la pandemia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And I know this is not the subject we&#8217;re going to talk about, but we were one of the most affected during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y hasta ahorita hay muchas personas que tienen problemas porque les dio el COVID y mucha de nuestra comunidad falleci\u00f3 porque no tuvieron los servicios m\u00e9dicos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) As of today, there&#8217;s still many in our community that still have lingering effects because they got COVID, and many of our people died because they didn&#8217;t have access to medical assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Queremos que esto cambie, no queremos que nos vean como dinero, como oportunidad de pagarles menos y hagan el peor trabajo que nosotros no queremos hacer hoy aqu\u00ed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we want you to not see us as easy money, a way to make money, where you can pay us less so that we have to do the work that nobody else wants to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y espero que yo realmente vea ese cambio<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And I hope to really see that change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y vamos a seguir luchando por mi comunidad, porque yo no me voy a rendir. Y vamos a seguir dando la cara por los que no pueden dar la cara, por los que tienen que trabajar tres trabajos. Pero nosotros que tenemos la oportunidad de salir y hablar, lo vamos a seguir haciendo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we are going to keep fighting for our community. We are going to keep stepping up, be the face of the community. We are stepping up for those that have three jobs, for those, we are going to be the face of those that cannot step up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y esperemos estas familias que tuvieron la desgracia puedan lograr algo y puedan estabilizarse. Sabemos que emocionalmente va a ser dif\u00edcil, pero esperemos y realmente les den la ayuda que necesitan, a ellos y a sus hijos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) We hope that these families that have suffered this tragedy are able to get stable. We hope that they are able to get the help they need, not only for themselves, but for their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Porque sabemos que el dinero no les va a ayudar. La salud mental de ellos va a estar bien dif\u00edcil que se vuelvan a recuperar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Because we know that the money is not going to help them. Their mental health is going to be difficult, and they are going to need to recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y le voy a pasar ahora a la se\u00f1ora Luc\u00eda para que siga hablando ella.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Now, I&#8217;m going to hand it off to Se\u00f1ora Lucia so she can speak next. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lucia Islas:<\/strong> <em>Hola, buenas tardes a todos. Mi nombre es Luc\u00eda Islas. Soy la presidenta del Comit\u00e9 Latino de Baltimore. Llevo 17 a\u00f1os trabajando para Baltimore, muy orgullosamente fundadora de muchas organizaciones donde ya no pertenezco, pero estuve trabajando. Soy parte de Mis Ra\u00edces, soy parte de CAPSI, Centro del Apoyo para la Superaci\u00f3n del Inmigrante. La pregunta aqu\u00ed es: \u00bfC\u00f3mo me siento el d\u00eda de hoy?&#8230;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi, everyone. My name is Lucia Islas. I am the president of Comit\u00e9 Latino de Baltimore. I&#8217;ve been working here in Baltimore for almost 17 years. I&#8217;m so proud to say that I&#8217;m a volunteer in many ONG like Mis Raices Also, I was one of the founders of one organization that now I left. But I&#8217;ve been working a lot and I&#8217;ve been working on the ground with my community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>El d\u00eda de hoy, la verdad, yo soy muy fuerte. Yo me siento bien, pero en mi coraz\u00f3n hay tristeza por nuestra comunidad. Y lo m\u00e1s triste que puedo decir yo es que si nosotros no lo hacemos, \u00bfqui\u00e9n lo va a hacer?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So today, I&#8217;m here, I&#8217;m okay. I study psychology, and I always try to take care of myself. I do a lot of mindfulness so I know how to control myself, but my heart is crying. From the bottom of my heart, I can say that I always think that if we don&#8217;t do the work, who is going to do it? And Don Carlos once saying something about Martin Luther King, I always said that I also have a dream for my community. I have a dream for my community to be successful, to be the same way to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Como mi compa\u00f1era estaba diciendo, yo siempre digo que yo tambi\u00e9n tengo un sue\u00f1o como Martin Luther King. Yo quiero que nuestra comunidad sea igual, que tenga mucho progreso en este pa\u00eds y que sea tratado igual, sobre todo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The day that this thing happened, it was so sad. I have a daughter, she&#8217;s 14 years old, and she told me, &#8220;Mom, look. What&#8217;s going on?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>El d\u00eda que pas\u00f3 esto, fue muy triste. Mi hija de 14 a\u00f1os me dijo.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I start looking everything, and I noticed that somebody, because everybody knows us here in this community, so we have a lot of WhatsApp groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nosotros tenemos muchos grupos de WhatsApp y yo me di cuenta que gente estaba comentando cosas y haci\u00e9ndonos preguntas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So right away, and this is something that Susanna didn&#8217;t say, but right away that day from 8:00 A.M. and literally to 9:00 or 10:00 P.M. we were receiving calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Literalmente ese d\u00eda, desde las ocho de la ma\u00f1ana hasta las diez de la noche, estuvimos recibiendo llamadas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we are always the ones that keep calling politics people saying, &#8220;This is happening, please do this. Pay attention to our community.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nosotros hacemos siempre eso. Yo puedo decir que tengo buena relaci\u00f3n con mucha gente de aqu\u00ed, que como sabe nuestro trabajo, nosotros empujamos un poquito diciendo: \u00abEst\u00e1 pasando esto, por favor, tomen en cuenta nuestra comunidad\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I can say that, yes, when we made a call, because they trust us and they know that we are working with the community, they always are listening to us. Since then, we are working with the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Desde ese d\u00eda estamos trabajando con la comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, we know some of the names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>S\u00ed sabemos varios nombres<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we are always looking to have confidentiality. And I always think about dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yo siempre pienso confidencialidad y dignidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is something that our people cannot lose. They cannot lose the dignity. Yes, they are suffering. Yes, there is a lot of help, but it has to be just private. We cannot say anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yo creo que siempre tenemos que cuidar la dignidad. Est\u00e1n sufriendo, debe de ser privado.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think the most important thing right here in this table is that we are more than thankful that somebody is listening to us, and that everybody can hear what the Latino community is feeling about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Creo que lo m\u00e1s importante es que alguien como usted nos est\u00e1 escuchando y que todos los dem\u00e1s escuchen lo que nosotros sentimos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is something very hard for us. Even for my little one, she&#8217;s 14, she was like, &#8220;Mommy, what&#8217;s going on?&#8221; They don&#8217;t know. She just watched the news that something happened. But can you imagine everything that went through her mind?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nosotros no sabemos de verdad el da\u00f1o que les hace hasta la gente que no estaba aqu\u00ed, como mi hija, que ve algo y ella piensa: \u00ab\u00bfQu\u00e9 est\u00e1 pasando?\u00bb. Entonces, es algo que tenemos que cuidar.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> <em>Buenas tardes, mi nombre es Claudia. Soy la due\u00f1a de El Taquito Mexicano. Con mi esposo, el se\u00f1or V\u00edctor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Good afternoon. My name is Claudia. I&#8217;m the owner of El Taquito Mexicano, with my husband, Mr. Victor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> <em>Y s\u00ed nos da pesar todo lo que pasa en la comunidad hispana, pero es algo bonito saber que hay un grupo de personas que se dedican a ayudar a la gente, que ponen toda su dedicaci\u00f3n.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Yes, I worry a lot about what&#8217;s happening in the Latino community, or the Hispanic community, but it&#8217;s also very heartwarming to see that there&#8217;s a group of people that are worried about our community and the situation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> Y a nosotros nos agrada que tomen nuestro negocio para venir a hacer estas cosas. Con mucho gusto estamos aqu\u00ed para lo que ellos necesiten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we feel grateful that they like to come to our business to have these types of meetings, and we welcome them with open arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> <em>Sabemos que ellos son las personas adecuadas para brindarle el apoyo a la gente que lo necesita.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) We know that they are the appropriate people that can provide the support that they need.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> <em>Y sabemos que ellos siempre van a dar lo mejor para la comunidad hispana.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we know that they will always give the best of themselves to the Hispanic community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> <em>Esperemos que las familias de estas personas que perdieron la vida en el accidente que hubo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) We hope that these people that lost their life in the accident that happened\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claudia:<\/strong> <em>\u2026 pronto se recuperen y sabemos que este grupo en particular los va a ayudar bastante.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) \u2026 that they&#8217;re able to move forward soon, and we know that this group will be able to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong>&nbsp; <em>Hola, buenas noches. Mi nombre es V\u00edctor, tenemos unos 15 a\u00f1os m\u00e1s o menos de vivir aqu\u00ed en Baltimore.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Hello, my name is Victor, and I have lived here in Baltimore about 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong>&nbsp; <em>Despu\u00e9s de la tragedia, que creo que todos estamos hablando, es triste que nos toca m\u00e1s siempre a los latinos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And after the tragedy that I think all of us have been talking about lately, it is very sad that it always happens to us, Latinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong>&nbsp; <em>Es triste, pero yo recuerdo que hace unos 12 a\u00f1os caminaba por las calles de Baltimore y se asombraba cuando usted escuchaba hablar a alguien en espa\u00f1ol, porque no hab\u00eda casi hispanos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) But it&#8217;s very sad, but I remember around 12 years ago when you walked the streets of Baltimore and it was very surprising to hear somebody speak Spanish because there weren&#8217;t that many Hispanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong>&nbsp; <em>De alguna manera nos sentimos orgullosos que seamos m\u00e1s gente trabajando en este pa\u00eds.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) In some ways, we are very proud because there are more of us working in this country&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong>&nbsp; <em>Porque lo primero que pensaban, es que cuando est\u00e1bamos llegando pensaban que ven\u00edamos a delinquir, a robar. Y no es cierto, les estamos demostrando que estamos trabajando y seguiremos trabajando.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Because the first thing they would think when they saw us was that we would come here to commit crimes, to rob. And we are showing them that that&#8217;s not true. We&#8217;re working. We&#8217;re working very hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong>&nbsp; <em>Esperamos que se le apoye un poco m\u00e1s al hispano, porque de verdad somos gente luchadora y vamos a seguir adelante. Ojal\u00e1 y alguna autoridad que escuche nos pueda ayudar. De verdad que vamos a hacer m\u00e1s grande Baltimore.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we hope that they find a way to support the Hispanics more because we can go far. We hope that somebody that&#8217;s listening can help us, can give us that support, because we can make Baltimore stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Hola, mi nombre es Norma Mart\u00ednez y estamos aqu\u00ed en la mesa hablando sobre todo lo que est\u00e1 sucediendo en Baltimore.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Hello, my name is Norma Martinez and we are here gathered at the table to discuss everything that&#8217;s happening in Baltimore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Es incre\u00edble lo que est\u00e1 pasando, porque los mismos latinos estamos luchando para los que fallecieron.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And it&#8217;s incredible what&#8217;s happening here because Latinos are fighting to help those that passed away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y la pregunta aqu\u00ed es: \u00bfD\u00f3nde est\u00e1 la compa\u00f1\u00eda donde ellos trabajaban? \u00bfEn qu\u00e9 est\u00e1n apoyando?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And the question here is where is the company where they were working? What are they doing to help?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>\u00bfEllos se han contactado con los familiares? Han dicho: \u00ab\u00bfLos podemos ayudar o algo?\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Have they contacted the families? Have they asked them if they can help, or something similar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y otra cosa es que para los que est\u00e1n perdidos, es como que no est\u00e1n poniendo demasiado empe\u00f1o, por ejemplo, el gobierno.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And another thing is, I don&#8217;t think that for those bodies that are lost, it doesn&#8217;t seem that the government is doing a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y es dif\u00edcil ser latino porque es como que no importa si se muri\u00f3 o se perdi\u00f3. Es como que tenemos que ser americanos para que el gobierno nos ponga atenci\u00f3n.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And it&#8217;s hard being Latinos because it feels like they don&#8217;t care if we are lost. It feels like you need to be American for the government to worry about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>O tambi\u00e9n no tener dinero los familiares para estar presionando al gobierno para que hagan algo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And also, it&#8217;s hard that the families don&#8217;t have any money so that they can pressure the government for them to do something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y es muy triste de que el gobierno solo los utilice para trabajo, pero que cuando pase algo, es como que ellos no se dan cuenta o simplemente no importa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And it&#8217;s very sad that the government is only using them for work, but when we need them, they are not there for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Es impresionante todo lo que est\u00e1 pasando.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And I don&#8217;t know, it&#8217;s very impressive, all of that&#8217;s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Esperemos que todo salga bien y entre nosotros podemos ayudarnos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And let&#8217;s hope that there&#8217;s a positive outcome and we are able to help each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Otra vez, que el gobierno se ponga pilas con los latinos, porque es como los que est\u00e1n trabajando m\u00e1s duro y no reciben nada a cambio.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And once again, I want the government to support the Latinos because we are the ones that are working very hard and we don&#8217;t get anything in exchange. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Gracias<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez:<\/strong> <em>Y tambi\u00e9n solo quer\u00eda preguntar, que eres una joven y tienes amigos en esta ciudad ahorita, quien trabaja en construcci\u00f3n.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You are a young person. You&#8217;re 18, you have friends who work in construction. No?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>S\u00ed, y tambi\u00e9n de mi colegio, muchos latinos que quieren seguir estudiando se van del colegio porque no tienen c\u00f3mo vivir.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Yes. And also in my school, there are a lot of students that would like to go to college, but they can&#8217;t because they have to leave school so they can go to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>S\u00ed, siempre ellos dicen: \u00abNecesitamos ayudar a mis pap\u00e1s a pagar renta, hacer todo, porque el gobierno no nos echa ni una mano\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And they say, &#8220;We need to go help our parents. We need to pay rent and everything because we don&#8217;t get any type of help from the government.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y los padres no tienen suficiente dinero como tambi\u00e9n para pagar universidades y todo eso.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And the parents also don&#8217;t have enough money to be able to pay a college tuition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y a veces, muchos dicen de que: \u00abLos latinos son maleducados, que ni tan siquiera van a la universidad\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And sometimes people say that Latinos are uneducated and that they don&#8217;t even go to college,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Pero no se dan cuenta que tambi\u00e9n no nos est\u00e1n ayudando para poder progresar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) But they don&#8217;t notice that they&#8217;re not helping us so that we can succeed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Norma Martinez: <\/strong><em>Y la \u00fanica opci\u00f3n que queda es dejar la escuela y trabajar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And the only option that&#8217;s left is leaving school and going to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez:<\/strong> <em>Otra vez, es incre\u00edble sentar en esta mesa con esos humanos incre\u00edbles. Incluso mi hija.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s just incredible to be sitting here at this table amidst this tragedy with just such incredible human beings, including my daughter. But I wanted to just sort of ask again. We&#8217;re going to give folks more details in the show notes for this episode about the men who died, the fundraisers that are being directed through the city, and links to the organizations represented by the amazing folks here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y vamos a incluir la informaci\u00f3n de los trabajadores que se murieron esta semana en las notas de este episodio. Y tambi\u00e9n vamos a incluir los enlaces de los sitios de estas organizaciones representados a los organizadores aqu\u00ed en la mesa. Pero yo quer\u00eda preguntar, \u00bfc\u00f3mo fue esta semana? \u00bfC\u00f3mo fue el proceso de ayudar a esta comunidad? Y nos habla un poco m\u00e1s de las conversaciones con otros miembros de la comunidad que han tenido esta semana y los periodistas, quienes est\u00e1n hablando de esta tragedia y sus respuestas a eso.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I just want to talk a little bit about what it&#8217;s been like for you all to try to do what you do this week, and try to help the community. A lot of people were asking, \u201cAre there fundraisers? If so, who&#8217;s running them? Who&#8217;s helping the community?\u201d So, yeah, if you could just talk about what it&#8217;s been like for you all in your different organizations this week and the kind of work you were doing, and the kind of conversations you&#8217;re getting into with other Latinos in the community<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ricardo Ortiz: <\/strong>Aqu\u00ed, de nuevo, Ricardo. Y lo que hemos escuchado es que eran personas trabajadoras, que normalmente trabajaban por las noches, normalmente ocho o nueve de la noche sal\u00eda de sus casas y regresaban al d\u00eda siguiente. Tienen familias, varios de ellos son de M\u00e9xico, Guatemala y El Salvador, Honduras. Y sabemos que estos trabajos de construcci\u00f3n es uno de los trabajos que m\u00e1s hace nuestra comunidad, pero al mismo tiempo, el segundo trabajo m\u00e1s peligroso en este pa\u00eds para realizar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we know that these six workers had families and they are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. And we know they work in construction. And construction is one of the most dangerous workplaces for everyone in this country. So this is something that we know. and yeah, I think that&#8217;s something I can share about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maximillian Alvarez: <\/strong>Talk to me about what it&#8217;s been like for you to try to help or respond to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ricardo Ortiz: <\/strong><em>S\u00ed, realmente quien ha hecho mucho han sido aqu\u00ed mis compa\u00f1eros, apoyando. Yo desde CAPSI, nuestro grupo, hemos apoyado en redes sociales. Inmediatamente, cuando me despert\u00e9 como a las siete de la ma\u00f1ana, algo as\u00ed, Susana me mand\u00f3 un mensaje de WhatsApp y me dijo: \u00abOye, \u00bfsabes esto? Ser\u00eda bueno que public\u00e1ramos algo en nuestra p\u00e1gina\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So when I wake up at 6:00 AM, Susana sent me a WhatsApp and she asked me, &#8220;Hey, do you know what happened a few hours ago? And it will be good if we can post something on social media to ask the people, \u2018Hey, do you need any support? Are you okay or how we can support you?\u2019&#8221; And we created a post where we ask the people, \u201cIf you need anything, just let us know.\u201d And we had some conversation with government representatives from Baltimore County and Baltimore City, and we ask them, &#8220;If you need anything, we can support you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y tambi\u00e9n nos contactamos con representantes del Gobierno de la ciudad y del condado para decirles lo que necesitemos, y tambi\u00e9n ellos, si conocen gente intercambiar esta informaci\u00f3n. <\/em>Con autoridades del Gobierno de M\u00e9xico tambi\u00e9n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we also talk with the Consular of Mexico to say, &#8220;Hey, it&#8217;s some Mexican people here. Just keep an eye about it.&#8221; So yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Susana Barrios: <\/strong><em>A m\u00ed me empezaron, desde las cinco de la ma\u00f1ana, me empezaron a mandar textos. La primera fue mi hija, que quer\u00eda saber si estaba viva.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So at 5:00 in the morning, I started getting texts. The first person was my daughter. She wanted to make sure I was alive. And then I started putting on the WhatsApp group, &#8220;If anybody needs help, we are here to help.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Empec\u00e9 yo a poner los informes en nuestros grupos de WhatsApp, que si alguien necesitaba ayuda, est\u00e1bamos ah\u00ed para ayudarlos. Luego, en mi caso, la c\u00f3nsul de Guatemala, cada vez que hay una tragedia en Baltimore, se comunica con nosotros y nos dice: \u00abSi hay connacionales, me dejan saber para saber c\u00f3mo podemos apoyar\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the Consulate of Guatemala texted me and she said, &#8220;If there&#8217;s anybody that&#8217;s affected from our country, then let us know, so we are here to help.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nosotros empezamos a ver en qu\u00e9 pod\u00edamos ayudar, porque no queremos hacer algo sin las familias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then we started to see how we could help, but we couldn&#8217;t do anything without the families and knowing what it is that they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y luego, en mi organizaci\u00f3n de Latino Racial Justice Circle, tambi\u00e9n como dijo Ricardo, est\u00e1bamos en comunicaci\u00f3n con los del condado. Luego nos comunicamos con el condado porque era una situaci\u00f3n bastante complicada. La parte de la tierra pertenece al condado, el puente pertenece a la ciudad y el agua pertenece al estado. Entonces, era algo complicado. Ellos nos dijeron que pod\u00edamos hacer un GoFundMe, porque una persona estaba en directo contacto con las familias y las familias autorizaron que nosotros hici\u00e9ramos el GoFundMe.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So then we were in contact with the government agencies because it&#8217;s very complicated. The land part belongs to Baltimore County. The bridge belongs to Baltimore City. And the water belongs to the state. So we got the go-ahead from the families that we could start a GoFundMe, because the families were okay with us doing the GoFundMe. And with all the other organizations, what we usually do is we&#8217;re like, okay, this one organization is going to do it. And instead of doing a whole bunch of little GoFundMes, everybody sends us this direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Todas las organizaciones tambi\u00e9n sabemos de que en lugar de hacer un mont\u00f3n de GoFundMe, hicimos solo uno y todos los dem\u00e1s dirig\u00edan a eso. No esperamos que fuera la respuesta tan r\u00e1pida.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We didn&#8217;t expect the response to be so fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nosotros, Latino Racial Justice Circle, es una organizaci\u00f3n que solo son voluntarios, no est\u00e1bamos capacitados para trabajar con mucho dinero.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Latino Racial Justice Circle is a volunteer-run organization and we don&#8217;t feel like we have the capacity to work with so much money. So then at that point we started to work with MIMA, the Mayor&#8217;s Office of Immigrant Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ah\u00ed empezamos a trabajar con MIMA, la oficina del alcalde de Asuntos de Inmigrantes. Ellos ah\u00ed activaron la p\u00e1gina de donaciones, que se cre\u00f3 como una asociaci\u00f3n entre la administraci\u00f3n de la ciudad de Baltimore y el Fondo C\u00edvico de Baltimore. El Fondo Comunitario de Inmigrantes de Baltimore ya exist\u00eda para apoyar a los inmigrantes en la ciudad con una estipulaci\u00f3n que es la respuesta de emergencia y crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we work with MIMA and they activated the donation page that was created as a partnership between the administration of Baltimore City and the Baltimore Civic Fund. The Baltimore Immigrant Community Fund already existed to support immigrants in the city with one stipulation, being that emergency and crisis response. So in this one, I think they started when it was the COVID response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y esto empez\u00f3 cuando fue la respuesta de COVID, ellos ya ten\u00edan el mecanismo, solo era de activarlo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So they had that mechanism in place and they just needed to activate it. So we opened it at 9:00, but we really didn&#8217;t publicize it until I think more like 11:00. And we had to close it by a little bit before 7:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lo abrimos a las nueve de la ma\u00f1ana, pero no lo pusimos p\u00fablico hasta como eso de las once de la ma\u00f1ana, creo yo. Y ya para las siete de la noche, ya lo tuvimos que cerrar. Pero entonces, todos los de medios de comunicaci\u00f3n nos estaban llamando, porque quer\u00edan hablar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So a lot of the media and reporters, they were calling us and calling us because they wanted to talk to us. But it was because I think a lot of them wanted information about the families. We did not have any information about the families directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Muchos de ellos quer\u00edan informaci\u00f3n acerca de las familias, pero nosotros no ten\u00edamos y no tenemos informaci\u00f3n directamente de las familias, porque estamos respetando y la verdad que no nos importa saber.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the truth is that we really don&#8217;t care to know because we know that they are going to receive the money directly. And at this point we don&#8217;t need to know who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Les vamos a entregar el dinero directamente, pero ahorita no necesitamos saber qui\u00e9nes son. 100 % de lo que se va a recaudar se va a dividir entre ellos, nosotros no tenemos ningunos gastos en nuestra organizaci\u00f3n. Solo estamos esperando a que GoFundMe nos deposite el dinero para poder darles a ellos en un cheque.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So 100% of the proceeds are going to go to the families. We are volunteer run again and we don&#8217;t have any expenses. We are just waiting for the money to be released to our bank account so that we can make out the checks to the families once we identify who the next of kin is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Solo que tenemos que identificar qui\u00e9n es el familiar m\u00e1s cercano de esas personas. Pero tambi\u00e9n estamos trabajando en conjunto con el Gobierno del Condado de Baltimore County.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we are working along with Baltimore County government who is supporting the families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Tambi\u00e9n lo que estamos empezando a hacer con do\u00f1a Luc\u00eda es ver a los que son due\u00f1os de negocios como restaurantes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And also what we are doing with Do\u00f1a Lucia is we are talking to business owners like restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Porque ellos nos ofrecieron la ayuda de llevarles comida a los familiares de los fallecidos.<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Because they have offered to provide food to the family members of the victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Porque sabemos que todos los que fueron afectados son hispanos y realmente el americano normalmente lo que lleva es comida en lata.<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And because we know that they are Hispanic and what we know is usually what Americans donate, canned food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Y tambi\u00e9n quiero agradecerle a Vargas Bakery, porque \u00e9l es una persona que tambi\u00e9n le pide uno la ayuda y \u00e9l la da para la comunidad.<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And I also want to thank Vargas Bakery because the owner is a person that if we ask for help, he always provides to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>Y sabemos que m\u00e1s personas de negocios tambi\u00e9n lo hacen, pero \u00e9l siempre levanta la mano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we know that other business owners also do it too, but he always raises his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>Y sabemos que es un tiempo bien dif\u00edcil para nuestra comunidad, pero como lo dijimos anteriormente, vamos a salir de esta tambi\u00e9n.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we know that it&#8217;s a very hard time for our community. But as we said before, our community is strong and we will get through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>Y esperemos que realmente esas familias se recuperen del golpe que han tenido. Sabemos que va a ser dif\u00edcil, pero no imposible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we hope that these families are able to surpass this. We know that it&#8217;s hard but not impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>Y vamos a seguir trabajando para ellos. Vamos a asegurarnos que los hijos de ellos tambi\u00e9n reciban los servicios que ellos van a necesitar.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we are going to keep working for them. We are going to make sure that their children get the services that they are going to need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>&nbsp;Y mientras Dios nos preste vida, vamos a seguir trabajando para nuestra comunidad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And as long as God gives us strength, we are going to keep working for our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>&nbsp;Gracias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Thank you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lucia Islas: <\/strong><em>El trabajo que se empez\u00f3 a hacer desde el primer d\u00eda es mucho m\u00e1s de lo que han dicho ellos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the work that we start doing since the first day, it&#8217;s more than they just said. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u00bfPor qu\u00e9? Porque como la gente tiene confianza en nosotros.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the community trusts us and they know us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nos empiezan a llamar para peque\u00f1os detalles.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They start calling us. And I&#8217;m just going to give you an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yo tengo una hija que trabaja en una escuela.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I have a daughter that she works in a school, she called me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ella me llam\u00f3: \u00abMami, creo que hay un ni\u00f1o de las familias\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMommy, I think there is a kid that his father is one of the people that died.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So little things like that, they start calling us. She will not tell me if it is a kid or not, but she start receiving calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mi hija empez\u00f3 a recibir llamadas,&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then she start calling me. Then a lot of restaurants, people that they know us start calling us saying, &#8220;How can we help?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Restaurantes empiezan a llamarnos: \u00ab\u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos ayudar?\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Politicians, reporters, churches,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Pol\u00edticos, reporteros, iglesias,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They start calling us. Why? Because they already know us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nos empiezan a llamar porque ya nos conocen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s how our work starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Es como nuestro trabajo empieza.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what I do, I call Susana, I call Richard, Ricardo. We are more members. So I start calling everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lo que hacemos es empezamos a llamar a todos y todos tienen algo que hacer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Ricardo, he just said he&#8217;s the one that social media. Susana has a lot of contacts. Don Carlos also, he will call the restaurants. I will receive calls from the Red Cross. I will receive calls from politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Entonces, Ricardo empieza con social media, Susana empieza a recibir llamadas y a hacer contactos. Y don Carlos empieza a recibir llamadas de los restaurantes, yo tambi\u00e9n empiezo a recibir llamadas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So one day we had a call from a woman saying that&#8230; It was not a call. So she put something in Facebook and she put a face like crying. And I said, &#8220;Can you call me?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ella puso una carita llorando, yo le dije: \u00ab\u00bfMe puedes llamar?\u00bb&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then we chat by Messenger. And then at the end I knew she knew me and I know her. So I was like, &#8220;Are you okay?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Entonces, al final yo le pregunt\u00e9: \u00ab\u00bfUsted est\u00e1 bien?\u00bb Result\u00f3 que ella me conoc\u00eda y yo la conoc\u00eda.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then she told me a story. She told me that, &#8220;No, I&#8217;m okay, but my son was just going through&#8230;&#8221; So her son just passed like five minutes before that happened. And can you believe the impact that this man, because he&#8217;s 45 years old, has? And I call him if he wants to talk about it, and he said not. So he used to work in the other side of the city, and regularly he comes at that time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ella me dijo que su hijo acababa de pasar. Dice que unos cinco minutos o maybe menos que el hijo escuch\u00f3 cuando eso se cay\u00f3. Entonces, su mam\u00e1, por eso puso la carita llorando, pero dijo: \u00abNo, yo estoy bien\u00bb. Y la se\u00f1ora es mexicana. Entonces, yo le dije: \u00ab\u00bfQuiere su hijo hablar?\u00bb Y me dijo que no.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So those little things make us work with the community. We are putting everything together like a puzzle. Like, &#8220;Okay, who needs this? What else do we need?&#8221; Susana was talking about taking care of the kids in the future. We are working already on that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Poquitas cosas que ponemos son como un rompecabezas y lo estamos poniendo ya junto. Susana ya est\u00e1 pensando qu\u00e9 se va a hacer con esa familia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And something that is very important is that, even though we don&#8217;t know the families, we care about them. We really care about them. And we keeping receiving calls, like Ricardo just said. We put something in the social media saying, &#8220;Do you need something? Let us know.&#8221; And yes, we receive. We received response from the people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Como Ricardo estaba diciendo, \u00e9l puso un post en Facebook y puso ah\u00ed: \u00abSi necesitan algo, d\u00e9jennos saber\u00bb, y s\u00ed nos contestan.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s the job that we do. Why they trust us&#8230;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Porque antes, han pasado muchas cosas, no es la primera vez. Llevamos trabajando&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve been working 14 years, Susana maybe more, not because she&#8217;s older than me, just because she has more experience\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yo llevo trabajando 17 a\u00f1os, Susana m\u00e1s, no porque sea m\u00e1s grande que yo, solo porque tiene m\u00e1s experiencia. Ricardo, Carlos, don Carlos\u2026&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And like I said, we have Gevene, we have Edwin Perez, Mo. So we have also not just Latino. We have also African-American people together with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tenemos mucha gente que nos ayuda y ese es nuestro trabajo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I work at South East CDC. I am a case manager,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yo trabajo en Southeast CDC, soy case manager.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that makes the things easier because I know where to go and I know where to knock.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Eso me hace m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil a m\u00ed porque s\u00e9 a d\u00f3nde ir y s\u00e9 a d\u00f3nde tocar.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, we have experience with many other organizations and we always are willing to participate with everyone. We&#8217;ve been working with, I think, most of them. As far as know, I think we have worked with all of them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hemos trabajado con casi todas las organizaciones, de hecho hoy estuvimos en una rueda de prensa con Casa. Nosotros estamos donde nos necesiten,nosotros no tenemos ninguna barrera.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We don&#8217;t have a line that divides us. We always are willing to participate, to have a partnership. It&#8217;s always for the future of our Latino community. That&#8217;s the only thing that matters for us. And thank you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gracias. Es lo \u00fanico que nos importa, trabajar y no tener l\u00edneas de divisi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maximillian Alvarez:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I know, as we said, it&#8217;s been a long day at the end of a long week and we all need to go home and get some sleep.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yo s\u00e9 que fue un d\u00eda larga, fue una semana larga y tenemos que regresar a casa para dormir. Solo tengo una preguntita m\u00e1s. Al final, \u00bfqu\u00e9 queremos decir a la poblaci\u00f3n de Baltimore y de los Estados Unidos de esta situaci\u00f3n y la significancia de esta situaci\u00f3n? \u00bfC\u00f3mo Ellos pueden ayudar la comunidad aqu\u00ed? \u00bfY por qu\u00e9 ellos deben ver nuestra comunidad en solidaridad con nosotros, no, [otro idioma 00:49:26] el opuesto, no contra nosotros? Como los hombres en East Palestine, Ohio, o en todas las partes del pa\u00eds.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I just wanted to ask, by way of a final question, if we had any final thoughts that we wanted to share with the people of Baltimore, with the rest of the country, about what this tragedy says. What we really want people to take away from this. And also, what can we tell people out there about what they can do to help? From the people in East Palestine, Ohio, who have been texting me all week saying they stand in solidarity with us. How can we reach those communities? And what do we want to say to them about what they can do to support us and why they should?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Susana Barrios: <\/strong><em>Yo estoy agradecida por la respuesta, que no solo fue local ni estatal, sino que fue global. Se sinti\u00f3 el cari\u00f1o y espero que le podamos explicar a las familias c\u00f3mo la gente ha tratado de demostrar que les importa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am very thankful and grateful for the response that we received. And I hope that I can convey to the families all the well wishes that people not only local or in the United States, but globally were trying to show them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y lo que s\u00ed quiero decir es de que esto no se va a acabar. Estoy segura que todos los reporteros se van a ir cuando pase alguna otra noticia en otra parte, pero estas familias van a seguir necesitando ayuda y que no se olviden de ellas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I want to say that the families will still be here, they will still have needs after all the reporters have left and they have moved on to the next big story. But these families will still be here and they will still need our support,, so please don&#8217;t forget them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ricardo Ortiz: <\/strong>I just want to start to say thank you to the people from Baltimore. Thank you for all your love, all your support. I think we are stronger now. And for me, just very thankful to see how the Baltimore city has opened their arms for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Quiero agradecer a la gente de Baltimore por todo el cari\u00f1o, la solidaridad que nos han dado y nos han mostrado que este es nuestro hogar y que somos parte de esta comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for the people who are listening, please call your representatives. We have the opportunity to have an immigrant reform, but we need your support. We need to push the politicians because they are doing nothing. And for more than 30 years we don&#8217;t have any immigrant reform. And why it&#8217;s important for our community? Because for that paper that say you are a citizen that&#8217;s the only reason why so many people don&#8217;t have access to the healthcare, they don&#8217;t have access to the school, they don&#8217;t have access for many, many, many things. And if you really want to support our community, we need to have citizenship for all and we need to have the same rights for everyone. So please call your representatives, call our organization. We can find us and Facebook as CASPI, and we want to educate your community. And you are welcome to support us in any way. So thank you, and share this information because we need more people to know the reality that is facing our community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Y, por favor, si t\u00fa est\u00e1s escuchando esta entrevista, llama a tus representantes, porque es momento de que tengamos una reforma migratoria. Han pasado m\u00e1s de 30 a\u00f1os en este pa\u00eds sin una reforma migratoria y el papel para nuestras familias significa tener acceso a educaci\u00f3n, tener acceso a salud, tener acceso a mejores oportunidades de vida. <\/em>Y tambi\u00e9n nos pueden seguir en nuestra p\u00e1gina de Facebook como CAPSI. Nos encuentras as\u00ed en Facebook, es C-A-P-S-I, Centro de Apoyo para la Superaci\u00f3n del Inmigrante, y estamos recibiendo cualquier tipo de apoyo, sea para que conozca de nuestro proyecto o si quieres venir y acompa\u00f1arnos a recorrer las calles de Baltimore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baltimore, you are welcome to join us. That&#8217;s it. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>&nbsp;<em>Yo, por \u00faltimo, quiero darte las gracias a ti por darnos la oportunidad de llevar el mensaje a las personas que no saben lo que ha pasado aqu\u00ed en Baltimore o que hagan conciencia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And in closing, I want to thank you for helping us spread the word to those that don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s happening here in Baltimore so that they are aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong>&nbsp;<em>Y esperemos que realmente nuestra comunidad aprenda de las tragedias y que nos unamos como comunidad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And let&#8217;s hope that our community learns from tragedies and we learn to get together or work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Porque si nosotros nos apoyamos como comunidad, podemos cambiar muchas cosas en la pol\u00edtica.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Because if we support each other as a community, we will be able to change a lot of things in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Porque era lo que dec\u00eda tu hija hace rato, que los hispanos nos tiramos con los mismos hispanos. Y no podemos avanzar porque ya nos tienen envidia o porque ya nos tienen coraje. Entonces, necesitamos cambiar eso.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Because it&#8217;s what your daughter was saying earlier, that Hispanics envy other Hispanics and we don&#8217;t come together. We&#8217;re jealous, we don&#8217;t support each other, and we have to change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo: <\/strong><em>Y s\u00ed podemos hacer grandes cosas, pero es unirnos, alzar una sola voz. Aqu\u00ed estamos en un pa\u00eds, el pa\u00eds se lleva en el coraz\u00f3n, pero estamos luchando porque queremos a Am\u00e9rica.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And we can do a lot of things if we come together and we become one voice. We have our home countries in our heart, but right now we&#8217;re in this country and our country now is America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlos Crespo:<\/strong> <em>Y s\u00ed se puede. Y muchas gracias una vez m\u00e1s.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And yes, we can. And thank you once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lucia Islas: <\/strong><em>Yo quiero darle las gracias a ti y a tu familia, por haberte tomado el tiempo de hablar con nosotros, al Taquito Mexicano, por habernos permitido estar aqu\u00ed. Pero tambi\u00e9n quiero darle las gracias a la ciudad de Baltimore, al gobierno, a las iglesias, a los hospitales, a los voluntarios que est\u00e1n ayudando all\u00e1 en la b\u00fasqueda de los cuerpos. Yo s\u00e9 que la ciudad est\u00e1 haciendo lo posible por encontrarlos a los que faltan, pero tambi\u00e9n tenemos que entender que no es f\u00e1cil. Esto toma tiempo. Quiero darle las gracias al consulado de M\u00e9xico, que siempre est\u00e1 trabajando con nosotros, que nos escucha. Y sobre todo, quiero darle de coraz\u00f3n las condolencias a las familias. Y quiero que sepan, como dijo nuestra compa\u00f1era: \u00abLos reporteros, la ayuda se va a ir, pero nosotros estamos aqu\u00ed, CAPSI est\u00e1 aqu\u00ed, nos pueden buscar y pueden preguntar\u00bb. Y nosotros s\u00ed empezamos a ayudar del principio al fin, hasta que nosotros veamos, no les vamos a prometer nada, pero s\u00ed les vamos a ayudar a buscar esos recursos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I&#8217;m going to say it in English. I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I also want to thank the city of Baltimore, the government, the churches, the hospitals, and the volunteers who are helping there in the search for the bodies. I know that the city is doing everything possible to find those who are missing but I also know that it&#8217;s not easy, that it takes time. Thanks to the Mexican Consulate, to the Red Cross for everything that it&#8217;s doing for us. And the most important thing: I want the family knows that, yes, like Susana said, the reporters and everyone will be gone, but this is not going to finish. We are going to be here. Please look for us. I&#8217;m Lupita Rojas on Facebook. I&#8217;m the president of Comit\u00e9 Latino de Baltimore. I&#8217;m also part of CAPSI. And look for us. Look Susana, look for Ricardo, look for Carlos. If you know me, you know that I really, really do what I said. Please reach out to us because we are going to help you from the beginning to the end. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Por favor, aquellas familias que sufrieron esos terribles p\u00e9rdidas, por favor, b\u00fasquenos a nosotros. Nosotros no somos los h\u00e9roes, pero nosotros s\u00ed somos tal vez, como dijo aqu\u00ed nuestro compa\u00f1ero, y perd\u00f3n que nos estemos poniendo esos nombres, pero s\u00ed tenemos sue\u00f1os para nuestros hispanos y queremos ayudarlos. B\u00fasquenos porque les vamos a ayudar en lo m\u00e1s m\u00ednimo, pero eso s\u00ed, van a tener un fuerte abrazo de nosotros. Gracias.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Yo tambi\u00e9n reitero las gracias.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) I joined everybody in saying thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Bien contento por haber conocido personas que no hab\u00eda visto.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) I am very happy to meet people that I had not met before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Nosotros, a lo mejor, no podemos estar con tiempo ayudando, pero las puertas de este negocio est\u00e1 abierto para lo que necesiten.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And maybe we don&#8217;t have the time to be helping, but the doors to this business are open to whatever you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Les aseguro que va a haber muchos negocios que van a querer aportar y nos apuntamos nosotros.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) I assure you that there&#8217;s going to be many, many businesses that are going to want to help. And we signed up too<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Gracias por conocer a gente que usa su tiempo, sabemos que tienen cosas que hacer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Thank you to the people that are donating their time. We know that they have things to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>En cambio, usan su tiempo para repartirlas en diferentes cosas que la gente necesita.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And in exchange, they use their time to do things to help the people that need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Orgullosamente, son hispanos, igual que yo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) And I am very proud that they are Hispanic, just like me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Victor:<\/strong> <em>Y gracias a todos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Translation, Susana Barrios) Thank you. Thank you, everyone.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/baltimores-latino-community-responds-to-key-bridge-crisis\">The Real News Network<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this bilingual podcast, we speak with a panel of community and immigrant justice organizers from Baltimore\u2019s Latino\/Latine community about the Key Bridge collapse and the plight of immigrant workers in the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4818,5942,453,3971,5585,372],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1588939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1588940,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588939\/revisions\/1588940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1588939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1588939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1588939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}