Comment That was the message the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and others sent to first lady Jill Biden after comments at a Latino conference in San Antonio on Monday in which she appeared to compare Hispanics to tacos. Addressing the annual UnidosUS conference in Texas, the first lady praised the community’s diversity, saying it was “as special as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the flowers of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio.” Biden also mispronounced “bodega” while trying to praise the Latino community, and a video of her remarks attracted more than 2 million views. The reaction was quick. In a tweet, NAHJ wrote that the organization “encourages @FLOTUS and her communications team to take the time to better understand the complexities of our people and communities. We are not tacos. Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by various diasporas, cultures and food traditions.” “Don’t stereotype us,” the tweet concluded. By Tuesday morning, Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for the first lady, had apologized on Twitter, writing: “The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.” Most Hispanic and Latino groups did not publicly criticize the first lady’s comments. But that hasn’t stopped some Republicans from seizing the analogy and using it to bash her and her husband, President Biden. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) posted a video of Biden’s comments, writing: “Jill Biden says Hispanics are as ‘unique’ as tacos and calls bodegas ‘boguedas.’ No wonder Hispanics are leaving the Democratic Party!” An average of Washington Post polls of Hispanic Americans found 49% approve of the way President Biden is doing his job, higher than voters as a whole. However, his approval rating has declined among Hispanics since last year. In a series of tweets, Irene Armendariz-Jackson, a Republican running for Congress in the Texas district that includes El Paso, was particularly vocal. “I am an American born to legal Mexican immigrants,” she tweeted. “I don’t identify as Latinx. I don’t identify as bo-guh-da. I don’t identify as a breakfast taco either. I am a proud American. I am a proud Hispanic woman. Enough of this stupid racist rant, please.” And Danielle Alvarez, communications director for the Republican National Committee, released a statement accusing Biden and Democrats of taking the Hispanic community for granted. “Their attempts to harass are disrespectful and demeaning,” Alvarez said in the statement. “With Jill Biden comparing us to tacos, it makes sense why Hispanics are overwhelmingly disapproving of this unknown, failed administration and abandoning the Democratic Party in droves.” Biden’s remarks at the annual Latino conference were subject to the standard White House process for such a speech, requiring signatures from multiple White House units — including the offices of intergovernmental affairs, legislative affairs and public engagement — according to a person familiar with the matter. speech , who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics. As First Lady, Biden has emerged as the administration’s primary messenger for the Latino community and immigration activists. That role has met with a mixed response from activists who say they appreciate being a direct line to the president but wish they had more direct forays into White House policymakers. Biden began learning Spanish in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and during the 2020 campaign began weekly meetings with small groups of Latino members of Congress, sharing their concerns with her husband. During the campaign, he also crossed the border to serve a Christmas meal to asylum seekers in a refugee camp in Matamoros, Mexico. After her husband’s election, one of Jill Biden’s first acts was to appoint three Latinas to serve as top members of her team — Anthony Bernal as senior adviser, Carlos Elizondo as social media secretary and Julissa Reynoso as chief of the staff. Since then, Biden has attended a 2022 naturalization ceremony in Bakersfield, California, ahead of Cesar Chavez Day. She took a three-city tour in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month last October and chose Latin America as the destination for her third trip in May, making a six-day three-country diplomatic visit to the region. In her comments Monday, a person familiar with the matter said Biden was trying to highlight — however awkwardly — a point of local pride in San Antonio: the breakfast taco. In an interview, Yvette Cabrera, vice president of online for the NAHJ, said that after Biden’s comments, the group’s rapid response team gathered to assess its own response. They realized the first lady meant to praise the community, he said, but also concluded her comments fell on deaf ears and decided to offer a “proportionate” response — a tweet, rather than a full statement on their website. “I understand that her intent was positive — she was trying to praise the uniqueness of Latinos — but really what she was doing was resorting to a stereotype that really didn’t represent the diversity of the Latino community in the United States,” Cabrera said. “It was disappointing, because it felt like it was resorting to a shallow stereotype when it could have used the opportunity to examine and give some examples of that diversity.” Cabrera added that there are a myriad of complex challenges facing the community — difficulties accessing reproductive health care and abortion, for example, or barriers to access to the vote — that Biden could have mentioned to better show his understanding of Latinos. . “It would be great to see her demonstrate her understanding and knowledge of these issues,” Cabrera said. The first lady isn’t the first political figure to squirm when using food to try to relate to the Latino community. In 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted out a photo of himself eating a bowl of tacos in honor of Cinco de Mayo. “The best taco bowls are made at the Trump Tower Grill,” Trump wrote at the time. “I love the Spanish!” Mariana Alfaro and Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
