Trump’s ‘Mexican’ label against judge brings up slur history
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Anti-Donald Trump demonstrators hold up signs and a banner as they flood the street across from the San Diego Convention Center where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was scheduled to speak, in San Diego.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. >> Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump calling a U.S.-born federal judge as a “Mexican” is bringing up the term’s history as a slur in the U.S.
The term “Mexican” describes a nationality for a people of a country south of the U.S. But scholars say it also has been used as an epithet against U.S.-born Latinos, to dehumanize them and dismiss them as foreign.
Trump recently used the word “Mexican” to describe U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Curiel is an American of Mexican origin, which Trump contends has prevented Curiel from being an objective judge of a lawsuit involving Trump’s real estate business education venture.
Trump’s remarks drew strong condemnation from Latino activists and Republicans.
California State University, Fullerton professor Alexandro Jose Gradilla says the word ‘Mexican’ is often a stand-in for one of many closely related slurs targeting Mexican-Americans.
23 responses to “Trump’s ‘Mexican’ label against judge brings up slur history”
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I’m not sure why people seem surprised that Mr. Trump – who is a prideful racist – would use a slur about a federal judge.
He’s a disgrace to the Republican Party, and an international laughingstock.
don’t forget the history of the slur “trailer park” as used by hiliar to describe women her husband raped or sexually abused. or the slur “super predator” used by hiliar to describe inner city black youths “who have no conscience, no empathy . . . we need to being them to heel.”
You enjoy comparing things Mr. Trump said yesterday with things Mrs. Clinton said 20 years ago.
They aren’t equivalent. You understand that, don’t you?
They are equivalent. Once you say that and believe that you can’t take it back. Clinton, the “Butcher of Benghazi” meant what she said and believes it.
That was James Carville who made the trailer park comment. “Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.”
January 1996
carville made that comment about paula jones, who later was awarded $850,000 by the clintons to drop her sexual assault charge. bill clinton was fined $25,000 and had his arkansas license to practice law suspended for 5 years for lying to the court in the paula jones case.
hiliar referred to gennifer flowers as trailer trash. flowers maintained a 12 year affair with bill clinton.
hiliar referred to monica lewinsky as a narcissistic loony toon.
and hiliar goes on and on attacking every woman bill clinton coupled with. she enabled his predatory sexual outings as she demeaned his victims.
Since when has Mexican been a racial slur? Isn’t that what natives of Mexico call themselves?
the scholars who dreamt up this stuff need to get educated.
More racist remarks spewing from the pro democrat press. Ridiculous.
Why do you believe that calling a Mexican a Mexican is a racial slur? Wouldn’t that also make calling an American a racial slur? It is unbelievable how so many people accept the garbage they read in the media.
There may be some basis for Trump’s implication.
The judge belongs to an affiliate of an openly racist organization called La Raza.
The group to which the judge belongs discriminates against non-Latinos in giving scholarship help and providing employment related connections.
Correction, from the website of the San Diego organization to which I have read the judge belongs.
“San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association Scholarship Fund is a nonprofit charitable corporation that provides scholarships to law students who have contributed to the Latino community.”
Strictly speaking, it does not discriminate against non-Latinos, since it includes those who support Latino interests.
I think this is a bit of a dodge, used to get around, for example, the California state ban on discrimination in UC employment and admissions.
Why not scholarships for those from all backgrounds, based on need and promise? Wouldn’t that be the “race-blind” (i.e. non-racsist) approach?
If you think that the La Raza Lawyers Association is racist, then you should not be part of this debate.
La Raza translates to The Race. This lawyers organization is exclusive to Hispanic and clearly not open to others. This in itself can be construed to be a form of racial discrimination. Further, for the Judge and attorneys to belong to the same association sharing the same racial beliefs in a matter before the court could be problematic.
It depends on what you mean by “racist”.
If you mean that people should be treated as individuals rather than given preference on the basis of some “racial” or ethnic category, then it is racist.
If you mean the belief that one race is superior to another, then it is not racist.
lespark – I see that among the long list of things you don’t know about, colloquial Spanish is one of them. La Raza actually means “the community.” But why be precise? Lying helps build your manufactured case against a decorated prosecutor and respected federal judge, so your motives are clear.
You should buy a Rosetta Stone CD on Spanish. You might actually learn something.
La raza and the sdlrla are separate entities, but are philosophically joined at the hip.
One of them, or lamecha, has a slogan. “por la raza todo, por los otros, nada.”
The Mexican Spanish term raza translates as “race” or “people”, Spanish raza having the meaning of “race, ethnicity; breed, strain, lineage”.
Obama’s appointee to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor came under fire for a 2001 speech she made at The University of Berkeley (of course), “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” She was also a La Raza member defined as: “National Council of La Raza, a group that’s promoted driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs, and no immigration law enforcement by local and state police.” Sounds like La Raza wants open borders and amnesty for all illegals in this country. You think that is a good idea? I don’t.
more precisely:
1925: jose vasconcellas pens an essay “la raza cosmica” with the accompanying english translation “the cosmic race” on the cover. he claimed the gradual racial mixing with the subjects of the former spanish empire will result in a new race “la rasa cosmica” the cosmic race.
1963: the national council of la raza is founded and its organizers retranslate la raza to mean the people.
So he signs saying “WALLS KILL DREAMS!” basically means that some m-rons believe that we should just let everyone into the U.S. illegally? I heard one Latino woman say on nation wide TV that all illegals should be let into the US since they only want to make their lives better. What about the small percentage of hardened criminals that will come in? Some people think that the US treats illegals badly, try being a illegal in another country like Japan or China. Your as- would be in a small concrete cell somewhere.
“California State University, Fullerton professor Alexandro Jose Gradilla says the word ‘Mexican’ is often a stand-in for one of many closely related slurs targeting Mexican-Americans.”
By itself, this seems kind of silly. What do we then call someone from Mexico? A “person of Mexico” ? Oops, I might have just started something.
I think he is right, but it is not just the word, it is the tone in which it is said, i.e. if it is said with “sneer quotes”. But his applies to practically every nationality word, including, (sneer) “American”, “French”, etc.
Cricket_Amos, you bring up some good points. However, to your list, we ought to add social context. Words don’t function in isolation. Their meanings are often relative or situational. In the context that Trump spoke, “Mexican” has connotations that are derogatory. As citizens of the world, we need to be aware of our words and how they may be interpreted by others. A presidential candidate who is careless in his/her diction should raise a red flag since he/she may become the face of our country. The last thing we need is a leader who divides rather than unites a nation that’s built on the bedrock of diversity. The contributions of all the different races that make up the United States are immeasurable. To deride any one race or to glorify any one race is to undermine the basic foundation of our country. Diversity is the air we breathe in Hawai’i nei, and President Obama has brought it into the White House. Hopefully it’ll remain after he leaves. Laulima!
Required reading: “Trump, His Virus and the Dark Age of Unreason” by Bill Moyers
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36473-trump-his-virus-and-the-dark-age-of-unreason