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Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Could Trump’s Controversial Remarks Cost Him 2024 Election? Latino Experts Weigh In!

Friends,

I really liked this Sunday, October 27th interview on Buelna News involving Drs. Alvarao Huerta and Fernando Guerra. It's cool to have a level-headed conversation of the Latino vote in light of the appalling racism exhibited by Trump and his supporters. 

For a look at the latest anti-Latino rhetoric mixed with other racist, misogynistic rude, and crude disgusting remarks that were spewed at Trump's rally at Sunday's Madison Square Rally, check out my earlier post titled, Puerto Rico is No Joke: A response to the racist remarks made by Tony Hinchcliffe. And let's not forget the F***ing Mexican remark Trump made in reference to providing funeral support that he promised to Vanessa Guillen's family whose daughter, was viciously murdered on a military base in Killeen, Texas, where she worked as a member of the military. 

Geez, the beloved Vanessa Guillen was a F***ing Mexican to him?!!! What a creep! In any case, Trump's F***ing Mexican comment motivated this "Tacos and Law" conversation hosted by Gabriel Buelna that you can follow on Tik-Tok and Youtube. Will have to check them out more as they're covering important topics and sharing great Mexican food recipes (on Tik Tok). A bonus!😺

Huerta and Guerra dove into the idea of Latino males supporting Trump. First of all, what should not get misconstrued according to Dr. Guerra is that most Latinos actually support Harris. There is interesting detail nevertheless to Latino support for Trump. One is that at the national level, we witness a dynamic of assimilation by not pushing ethnic politics. I would call this a process of "acting white." Doing so is harder at the local level where ethnicity plays out differently.

Though not addressed, it presumably means that ethnicity is an identity and resource that those interested in politics must marshall. A third important and super interesting to me dynamic is that Latinos have a long history of being conservative such as in their opposition to abortion. Drilling down further, within this conservative group are people from Latin American countries with right-wing leadership who come to the U.S. and become conservative.

Dr. Huerta said "some are confused" and this is probably true in every election where the candidates
are examined closely and are or are not trusted. He also said that we shouldn't "vilify" them as a consequence. I totally agree. We must always be respectful, especially since not all have the same knowledge base even where shared values exist. Dr. Guerra pointed to the working class makeup of the Latino community and said that Latinas and Latinos should support Harris because she will be better for the working class than Trump.

I'm most concerned about the very real possibility of a segment of Blacks or Latinos hating who they are—perhaps unknowingly—in the quest either for acceptance by whites or for a white identity itself. 

Clearly, this is a process that immigrants like Trump himself and his family have gone through such that they can be—neither immigrants nor the children of immigrants that they are—but rather "white people," even to the point of denying one's immigrant identity. But then this makes sense, too, since one cannot be easily hateful or spiteful toward a group that one maligns if one belongs to it.

Great interview! Loved the conversation. You can view it here for yourselves if you like.

-Angela Valenzuela

759 views Oct 27, 2024 LOS ANGELES






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