DC Hispanic Contractors Association is disappointed in the tone and accusatory nature of those who have recently protested the Anacostia Gateway project in Ward 8. Our Association has worked very hard with our member businesses based in Ward 8 and various community groups in the Ward. We stand ready to provide training and opportunities for all District residents and, in particular, all residents of Ward 8. In times such as these, with the divisive rhetoric on a national level, it's saddening to find threats and insults directed at Latinos, many of whom live in the District as well. Pitting Black and Brown communities against each other is not what our great District of Columbia is about.

We know there are District based CBE's involved in the Gateway project and are aware of DC residents working on that job. We're ready to partner with any organization or group in Ward 8 to identify employment opportunities and training programs to get folks employed in good paying jobs in construction. We've been doing this for the past 35 years in the District. We're ready to work with Ward 8 residents, all Ward 8 residents, to make sure they're given every opportunity to work in construction. However, as difficult as employment is in the time of the pandemic, shutting down a workplace and forcing workers -many DC residents- off the job, dividing our communities and raising impediments to dialogue and positive action is not what should be happening.

                                            We call on Ward 8 Councilman, Trayon White, to ask for comity, tolerance, dialogue and compassion and let people get back to work and earn a living. We call on the Councilman to bring folks together, reach out to our community and provide the leadership and intervention that will lead to harmony and collaboration instead of the anger and discriminatory epithets that are being hurled about.

Our Association is committed to providing opportunities for all in a framework that highlights opportunities in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, integrated fashion as is the tradition of this great nation's capital. We reject all references and exhortations to prejudice, exclusion or denigration as unworthy of the District and our diverse population.