First Lady of the USA
Jill Biden apologizes after comparing Latinos to tacos
Jill Biden made an unfortunate comparison between tacos and Latinos in a speech – and apologized for it.
© Nicholas Kamm / AFP
During a speech, First Lady Jill Biden compares Hispanics to breakfast tacos. A comparison that was not well received by some. The apology of the President’s wife followed shortly thereafter.
It should actually be a laudatory comparison. But with Jill Biden, the First Lady of the USA, it went wrong. At a conference Monday in San Antonio, Texas, hosted by UnidosUS, an umbrella organization for charities fighting poverty, racial discrimination and under-education in Hispanic and Latino families, she wanted to pay tribute to Raul Yzaguirre, who led the civil rights and advocacy group for 30 years.
“Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community, as distinctive as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blooms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is her strength,” Biden said . Bodegas are small convenience and grocery stores that are particularly well known in New York. Biden mispronounced the term in the speech.
“We are not tacos”
However, the comparison with the tacos in San Antonio did not go down well. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists said Biden and her speechwriters should “better understand the complexities of our people” like the Reuters news agency reported.
“We are not tacos. Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by a variety of diasporas, cultures and food traditions and should not be reduced to one stereotype,” the association said in a statement.
San Antonio is one of the larger Latino cities in the United States, with a population of nearly 1.5 million people of whom 65% are Hispanic or Latino according to US Census data. Breakfast tacos are very popular there because they are part of the local cuisine.
Jill Biden apologizes through her spokesman
A day after the unfortunate settlement, Jill Biden issued an apology. “The First Lady apologizes that her words expressed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community,” her rep Michael LaRosa tweeted.
Hispanic voters generally vote for Democrats, although group support patterns vary widely in different parts of the US and Latino support for the Democratic presidential nominee (Joe Biden) was toned down in 2020 compared to 2016 (Hillary Clinton). That showed data from the Pew Research Center, like the AP news agency writes. Some Democrats have suggested the party isn’t working hard enough to maintain Hispanic support.
Republican malice
Malicious criticism also came from US Republicans. Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted a video of Biden’s speech and wrote, “Jill Biden says Hispanics are as ‘unique’ as tacos and calls bodegas ‘bogidas.’ No wonder Hispanics are fleeing the Democratic Party!”
Irene Armendariz-Jackson, a Republican running for Congress in the Texas District, which includes El Paso, tweeted, “I’m an American born to legal Mexican immigrants. I don’t identify as Latinx. I do not identify myself as a bo-guh-da. I also do not identify as a breakfast taco. I am a proud American. I am a proud Hispanic woman. Enough of this idiotic racist pandering, please.
Janet Murguía, President of UnidosUS, told the US newspaper “Washington Post” On the other hand, among the 1,500 participants in the room, Biden’s comment “actually was a casual moment in the speech, with several people actually applauding and cheering.” “For those of us who were there, we understood the commentary as it was intended to reflect the diversity of the Latino community as a strength of this country,” Murguía continued. But she adds that the comparison could have been said better.
Report: Biden’s speech went through regular process
Biden’s statements at the conference went through the regular White House process for such a speech, according to the Washington Post. They also required the approval of multiple White House units — including the offices of interstate affairs, legislative affairs and public engagement — a person familiar with the speech told the newspaper.
Biden’s team also provided UnidosUS with an early draft of the First Lady’s speech, which the group read through for fact-checking and debate. However, the organization did not see its role in signing off on the content of the comments, a person familiar with the process told the Washington Post.