Jill Biden, the first lady of the United States, apologized this Tuesday, June 12th, after a video in which she compares the Latino community with “Bodegas” and “breakfast tacos” went viral on social networks.
In a speech Monday in Texas on the occasion of the UnidosUS 2022 annual conference, a Civil Rights Organization for Hispanics in the United States, the wife of the president of the United States said:
“The diversity of this community, as distinct as the wineries in the Bronx, as beautiful as the flowers in Miami and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength“.
Jill Biden just said Hispanics are as “unique” as tacos.
This isn’t Veep. Which White House speechwriter just won a bet for getting the First Lady to say something like this?pic.twitter.com/DXfJgYz0g5
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 11, 2022
The criticism and negative comments forced Jill Biden to apologize via her spokesperson Michael LaRosa on Twitter:
“The First Lady apologizes, her words only conveyed pure admiration and love for the Latino community“.
The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosa46) July 12, 2022
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The first lady’s comments generated harsh criticism through social networks. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States, responded by saying that Latinos “are not tacos”. The NAHJ noted that:
“using breakfast tacos to try to demonstrate the uniqueness of Latinos in San Antonio demonstrates a lack of cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of Latinos in the region“.
“Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by a variety of diasporas, cultures and culinary traditions, and should not be reduced to a stereotype“, she added.
