First Lady Jill Biden got a little ahead of Taco Tuesday in a Monday night speech on Hispanic diversity in San Antonio when she compared the Latino community to “breakfast tacos.” Needless to say, the ethnic group she was pandering to wasn’t too impressed.
“Raul [Yzaguirre] helped build this organization,” Biden said, referring to the progressive nonprofit UnidosUS, “with the understanding that the diversity of this community — as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio — is your strength.” The first lady also had a little trouble with the word referring to Hispanic grocery stores too, mispronouncing them “BO-ge-duhs.”
It turns out deriving strength from breakfast taco-like diversity isn’t really what Latinos are going for, with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists firing back in no uncertain terms: “We are not tacos.”
“NAHJ encourages [First Lady Jill Biden] & her communications team to take time to better understand the complexities of our people & communities,” the association tweeted, adding, “Do not reduce us to stereotypes.”
The first lady’s taco gaffe comes as her husband’s approval rating dwindles among Hispanics, with a poll last month showing just 24 percent approve of President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday morning, the first lady’s spokesman tweeted an apology on her behalf, saying she “apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.”
This is not Jill Biden’s first faux pas with Hispanics. At an event honoring Cesar Chavez last year, Biden attempted to rally her Latino listeners with the cry, “¡Si, se puede!” (Yes, we can!), but she only got two syllables in before butchering the Spanish verb.
