Jill Biden apologized Tuesday for saying Latinos are “as unique” as San Antonio’s breakfast tacos during a speech at the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization. “The first lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community,” tweeted Jill Biden’s spokesman Michael LaRosa. The first lady flew to San Antonio on Monday to speak at the annual conference of UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights and advocacy group formerly known as the National Council of La Raza. He also spoke at a Democratic Party fundraiser at a private home before returning to Washington. But Biden’s attempt at a compliment fell short when he described Latino diversity as “as unique as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the flowers of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio.” He also mispronounced “bodegas,” small stores in urban areas that typically specialize in Hispanic groceries. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists and others documented their offense on social media, with the journalists’ organization tweeting, “We are not tacos.” “Using breakfast tacos to try to demonstrate the uniqueness of Latinos in San Antonio demonstrates a lack of cultural knowledge and sensitivity to the diversity of Latinos in the region,” NAHJ said. The association said the first lady and her speechwriters should “take time in the future to better understand the complexities of our people and communities.” Hispanic voters generally favor Democrats, although patterns of support for the group vary widely in different parts of the U.S., and Latino support for the Democratic presidential nominee declined in 2020 compared to 2016, according to data from the Center for Research Pew. Some Democrats have suggested the party isn’t working hard enough to retain Hispanic support. In her speech, Jill Biden described how President Joe Biden has responded to the community, including appointing Latinos to Cabinet and other high government positions and helping them get vaccinated against COVID-19. Separately, last month, Republican Myra Flores won a special congressional election in a typically Democratic South Texas district. Now completing a House term that ends in January, Flores is a staunch Trump supporter and the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress. Jill Biden spent part of Tuesday showing Mexico’s first lady, Beatriz Gutierrez Mueller, around the Library of Congress, while Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was at the White House meeting with President Biden. — Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.
