Writer Esther J. Cepeda is a bit peeved — to say the least — about recent comments former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made about the way the Republican Party should go about courting Hispanic voters. In a Washington Post op-ed she writes the following:
Romney told the [Wall Street] Journal that in addition to wishing his campaign had poured more money into ads targeting Hispanic voters, the GOP needs "to translate our message in a way that minorities understand."
Cepeda puts this condescension into context by describing Romney's — and the Republican Party's — past indiscretions with Hispanic voters, and why key words like "translate" hurt, more than help, their goal.
Honestly, of all the slips Romney committed during last year's campaign — from letting his staffers tell Spanish-language media that he was struggling with Latinos because they were simply not well-informed to never calling out his fellow Republicans for using degrading language when speaking about immigrants or Hispanics — this latest is probably the most insulting …
Let's unpack his recent comment starting with the tricky, loaded word "translate." My first impression was that Romney used the word because he, like so many others, still believes that most Hispanics can't speak English.
Can someone please get this man on the Pew Hispanic Center's email list? Almost two-thirds of Hispanics report speaking only English, or speaking it very well, according to the nonpartisan research organization.
Read Esther J. Cepeda's entire piece at the Washington Post.
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