With his Broadway show Latin History for Morons, John Leguizamo is uplifting Latinos. After performances, he’s had audience members come up to him and thank him for drawing attention to the contributions of Latinos in the United States. His work is combating the anti-immigrant rhetoric that now has its biggest platform with Donald Trump in office, but still he wants to do more. “If I could I would run for office in Texas,” Leguizamo told the Daily Beast. “I would run some place heinous to make a difference.”
This means he’d have to give up acting, but given the way Texas has disenfranchised Latino and African Americans in the state, Leguizamo would gladly step down from the career he’s spent decades building.
“You know, I love what I do,” he added. “I would hate to give it up… Yes, I would run if my celebrity could get me elected, to get rid of gerrymandering and to allow people to teach Latino history in Texas, which is 39 percent Latino and around 12 percent black, so we people of color are the majority. Why are we so beaten down there?”
Though Texas has not banned ethnic studies in the state, it’s found many other ways to marginalize people of color, including trying to force all elected officials to carry out anti-immigrant policies. As of now, he has no plans on running, but if someone in Texas is looking to turn the star into a politician, he’s open to it.
Read the rest of his interview with the Daily Beast here.