‘We are not all criminals’
via Flickr user (cc) Sherwood 411
When Donald Trump announced he was running for president last June, his first speech ignited the support of anti-immigration activists across the country, and quickly made him a front-runner in the GOP primaries. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said on June 16, 2015. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” But his first speech of the primaries may be his campaign’s death nail if he makes it to the general election. 27.3 million Hispanics are expected to vote in the 2016 general election and a poll published in The Washington Post found that seven out of ten of these voters had a “very unfavorable” opinion of Trump.
Last Saturday, a Hispanic construction worker in Canada staged a symbolic protest of Trump’s views by flying the Mexican flag from the roof of Trump Tower in Vancouver, British Columbia. “The comments Trump has made about us, did not stop us from doing the high quality work we have always done, in our home country or when we migrate to the US/Canada,” Diego Saul Reyna wrote on Facebook.
via Facebook
Here’s Reyna’s full Facebook post
WHY DID I PUT A MEXICAN FLAG ON THE ROOF TOP OF TRUMP TOWER VANCOUVER, ??????
Because from the concrete pouring, finishing, drywall, taping, wood forming and general labour, Mexicans were there, building it, doing good work, the comments Trump has made about us, did not stop us from doing the high quality work we have always done, in our home country or when we migrate to the US/Canada, MR Trump, we did our best work, your tower here in Vancouver is premium quality, and we were a crucial part of it, not just Mexicans but immigrants as a whole, like your ancestors were, you are not native american, the insults you have said about us, have not changed our work ethics, while working on your tower Mexicans didn't steal anything nor raped anyone, we just did the best work we could possibly do, for my ourselves, our families and the future tenants in your building, PLEASE HELP ME SHARE THIS MESSAGE SO IT CAN GET TO MR TRUMP'S NEWS FEED, THANKS !!!
?#?trump?
“I put a Mexican flag on the roof of the Trump Tower in Vancouver, just to show that he is benefiting from us and that we are working hard on his projects and that we are not all criminals,” Reyna told the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Although Reyna didn’t work on the Trump Tower project, several of his friends have, so he saw it as an opportunity to voice their frustration with Trump’s remarks. Reyna’s gesture is a fantastic example of a hard-working immigrant persevering in the face of prejudice.