Actress and business and media mogul Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) and former pro baseball player and businessman Alex Rodriguez recently jumped online for a virtual chat with presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.
The couples discussed the importance of the Latino community voting in this year’s general election and how Biden is the candidate that can bring a divided country back together.
“We’re thrilled and excited to vote,” Rodriguez told the Bidens. “I think our voice has never been more important. We want to come together as a team to defeat COVID and to rebuild this U.S. economy that needs us all so much.”
For Lopez, it’s all about “unifying the nation again” and “getting rid of this hate.”
“Thinking about my kids walking around in a world where it’s OK to be racist or prejudiced because our administration says it’s OK,” Lopez said. “That, to me, is really sad because it’s not the country that I believe that I grew up in.”
Lopez mentioned how Latinos are one of the communities being hit the hardest by COVID-19. According to statistics shared by Salud America from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Latinos make up 21.3% of the COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
Joe Biden started off by telling Lopez the facts about the virus when it comes to Latinos, including that Latinos are three times more likely to be infected by COVID-19 than a white person; that there are three million unemployed Latinos in the U.S. right now; that 200,000 Dreamers are on the frontlines as essential workers; and that one in three Latino small businesses is gone because of the pandemic.
“The House passed an incredibly generous [COVID-19 relief] bill–$2 trillion to [make] sure that small businesses can stay open…and [Trump] is not doing anything,” Biden said. “In addition to that, schools are still closed, especially in Latino communities. There’s so much we can do.”
Lopez said that her hope is that the Latino community starts realizing its power as voters. Not only as voters, the Bidens added.
“If I have the honor of being the next First Lady, Latina women will have a seat at the table,” Jill Biden said. Joe Biden added: “And in the Cabinet.”