The Mexican rock band Mana, whose lead singer last year compared Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler, announced this week they will embark on a concert tour in the fall of American cities to encourage Latinos to vote in the November elections.
Members of the Latino rock bands Mana and Los Tigres Del Norte hold a banner on stage at the Latin Grammys, November 19, 2015. Image via Newsbusters.
The tour, called Latino Power Tour, will play 18 concerts in 17 cities from September 9 through November 9, the day after Election Day, according to a press release. More than half the concerts will be held in California and Texas with the others being held in major cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and New York.
“We have baptized our new tour ‘Latino Power,’ because with the strength of their collective vote this year, U.S. Latinos can further empower our community – demanding more respect and affecting real change in the living conditions and opportunities for our people” – Fher Olvera of Maná
Mana lead singer Fher Olvera spoke out against Trump last June at a concert in Los Angeles shortly after Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for president with a statement criticizing Mexico for allowing Mexican criminals to freely cross the U.S. border.
Olvera spoke in Spanish. His remarks were reported in English by Billboard.
“He said we were trash, he said that the people who came from Latin America and Mexico are rapists, thugs, and drug dealers,” said Olvera of the presidential hopeful, with palpable indignation. “Those were his words. We feel pity for this incompetent man. I have never heard a speech as violent, or as filled with hatred — not since Hitler.”
And then, amid boos directed at Trump, Olvera changed his tone into one of empowerment. “Latinos and Mexicans came to this country to build it from the ground up. It doesn’t matter what one cabrón said – just remember that he insulted our fathers, our mothers; he insulted everyone. And that is inadmissible. When you go out to vote, which is soon, you know what you have to do.”
“Plus — as Los Tigres del Norte say, now there’s more of us!” added Olvera, before launching into a cover of the equally legendary norteño band’s immigrant anthem, “Somo Más Americanos.” The song also appears on Maná’s latest album, Cama Incendiada, with a cumbia-rock twist.
Rolling Stone reported on Mana, alongside Los Tigres Del Norte, bashing Trump at the Latin Grammys last November.
“We took this iconic song [of Los Tigres del Norte] (Somos Más Americanos (We Are More American)) and are using it as a weapon of protest to what’s happening here with immigration reform and all the xenophobic remarks made by Donald Trump,” Maná frontman Fher Olvera tells Rolling Stone. “The declarations that Trump made are against a race, and that’s the problem. Politically, you can be for or against Obama’s, Trump’s, or Hillary’s [views], but there is a universal truth: We can’t be racist, and we can’t judge people because of their skin color. Racism has always been vincible throughout the ages and in any part of the world, and that’s what we need to make clear to Donald Trump.”
Billboard spoke to Olvera at the Grammys:
“On the red carpet, Fher reaffirmed the band’s message. “We love playing the Latin Grammys but we’re using this opportunity to express the power that Latinos have in this country,” he told Billboard. “There are more than 50 million Latinos — the US has the second highest number of Spanish-speaking people in the world, after Mexico. Imagine that. That means that Latinos have garnered a lot of power and it’s time to demand respect. So we’re asking people to register to vote and vote for candidates who are offering the best for every hard-working Latino in this country. That’s our message: Use your vote to change things. Vote for a human being who doesn’t discriminate; who is not racist, to put it bluntly.”
The Latino Power Tour promoter, Live Nation, is partnering with the pro-amnesty for illegal aliens group Voto Latino to register voters at Latino shows this year, including the Mana tour, reported BillBoard.
The campaign will combine Voto Latino-branded voter registration booths at concerts with an online campaign that will continue until Election Day. The artist themselves will also be promoting the importance of Latino participation in the presidential election.
Voto Latino issued a press release last November supporting President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty actions and promising that 1.6 million voters with family members affected by those programs would decide the 2016 elections.
DACA and DAPA Affected Voters Will Decide the 2016 Election
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Voto Latino, the leading non-profit organization empowering American Latino Millennials by engaging them in the civic process, released the following statement by President and CEO María Teresa Kumar on the one year anniversary of the President’s announcement of expanded DACA and DAPA.“Denying the implementation of these programs goes against the values we hold to be true as Americans. One way or another, the future of DACA and DAPA and the larger issue of immigration reform will be decided in 2016, but not by politicians—by the voters.
“Whether in the courts or inside the voting booth, we will continue to pursue a moral, economic, and civic argument to uphold our country’s founding principle of being just to those least enfranchised.
“I am pleased to see that on this anniversary the Department of Justice has formally filed a request for the Supreme Court to review the federal appeals court ruling. This brings us one step closer toward claiming justice for millions of Latinos and their families.
“By November 2016, there will be 1.6 million new American voters with DACA and DAPA eligible family members. This voting bloc remains united in our community’s values. They will decide the margin of victory in many key battleground states, including Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.”
UPDATE: This would be ILLEGAL in Mexico.
Anti-Trump Mexican Band @manaoficial to Stage US 'Latino Power Tour' to Register Voters. That's illegal in MEXICO! pic.twitter.com/gjWKYuuWoW
— Progressives Today (@ProgsToday) February 11, 2016
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