Jose Antonio Vargas has launched a new crowdfunding campaign for #EmergingUS to further highlight the intricacies of race, culture and immigration in the United States.

Vargas launched the initiative in partnership with crowdfunding startup Beacon, which has helped raise funds for news outlets and individual journalists globally. Beacon will match donations dollar for dollar up to $500,000 or half of Vargas' total finance target.

"I cannot talk about Black Lives Matter and not talk about the immigrant rights movement, and not talk about the LGBTQ movement and not talk about income inequality, and not talk about working-class white people," said Vargas, a journalist, filmmaker and undocumented immigrant. "All of those issues are interconnected, yet for the most part in newsrooms, they're thought of as separate."

He continued, "The way most of the East Coast-based news organizations talk about these issues doesn't reflect the reality that is happening across the country."

#EmergingUS, a video-heavy digital media outlet, was born at the Los Angeles Times office in 2015. At the time, Vargas worked with then-Los Angeles Times publisher Austin Beutner, who was aiming to reshape the publication and experiment with fresh digital initiatives. Beutner, however, was axed in September after a feud with parent company Tribune. Afterwards, Vargas had to consider his next plans for the digital platform and ultimately decided that it needed to be an independent endeavor.

Vargas said that he is positive that #EmergingUS will attain its goal because the audience is "hungry for an outlet with its editorial point of view." The project aims to bring in $1 million in just 60 days.

Vargas said that for decades the West Coast has been discussing race and identity that has extended into Latino and Asian communities. As for why the East Coast seems to be lagging behind in these demographic and cultural conversations, Vargas blames the major news outlets and its coverage blind spots. According to him, newsroom leaderships lack diversity. Vargas even tweeted about the issue using the hashtag #JournalismSoWhite.

Vargas acknowledged that immigration is being covered broadly by the U.S. media, but it often lacks background. He also pointed out that over 70 percent of Asian adults in the U.S. are immigrants, but the attention is focused on those who come from south of the border.

Vargas stressed that #EmergingUS is journalistic and is not advocacy-based. He said that journalists are frequently abiding to objectivity, but as a gay and undocumented immigrant with a Latino name and Asian physical features, Vargas said he "can't really afford objectivity." He added that his standpoint is "kind of my own way of seeing myself in the way I'm reflected in the media."