The Latino community in Baltimore is responding to the unrest that has gripped the city over the last week.
On Thursday’s Rundown, Casa de Maryland’s executive director Gustavo Torres discussed why the community is standing in solidarity with Baltimore’s African-American community:
“The African-American community has been suffering tremendously for many years,” Torres said. “Latinos also have been in the same situation. That is the reason why we are together…We believe that’s the only way to bring justice to our communities.”
The number of Latinos in Baltimore has almost doubled over the last 10 years, according to Census data. Latinos now make up 5% of the city’s population. Like African Americans, Torres said, the growing Latino community is concerned about hostile relationships between law enforcement and minorities.
“We believe that is totally unacceptable what the police have been doing, so we are demanding more accountability for the police department,” he said.
Nicole Acevedo
I am a bilingual national reporter specializing in issues affecting Latino communities in the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America. Experience I have produced hundreds of stories across digital, radio and broadcast platforms throughout my career — reporting on everything from elections, natural disasters and immigration to pop culture trends, social justice issues and breaking news. I'm best known for my coverage of the crises affecting Puerto Rico, including its reconstruction process after Hurricane Maria, the island’s financial crisis and more. After graduating from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a bachelor's degree in broadcast and digital journalism in 2016, I joined the inaugural cohort of students who helped launch the Spanish-language bilingual journalism master’s program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Awards I was a 2024 finalist for the NAHJ/University of Florida award in investigative journalism for my reporting uncovering the challenges Puerto Rican families face in caring for their elders, given that the island’s population is aging faster than most places on Earth and fragmented by migration. I served as the lead reporter and writer of NBC News' 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month project “Who’s Latino? Amid growing numbers the definition is expanding,” which was awarded an NAHJ Ñ Award for best Latino issues story for print/digital.