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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 2016)
October 5, 2016 The Skanner Page 7 News Pence’s ‘Mexican Thing’ Remark Draws Ridicule, Criticism from Latinos By Russell Contreras and Amy Taxin, Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Latino scholars and activists are criti- cizing Republican Mike Pence for referring to “that Mexican thing,” at the vice presidential de- bate as he tried to brush “ MexicanThing was trending on Twitter as Latinos widely made fun of the remark with memes, gifs, and satiri- cal versions of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” red cap. “Proud to be ‘that Mexican thing!’” Javier Martinez, a New Mexico Democratic lawmaker, M ex i c a n -A m e r i c a n syndicated cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz said the mo- ment the words came out of Pence’s mouth “I knew it was going to be big.” Alcaraz drew a cartoon of a Latino man holding a card that read, “my vote.” Above the man read the words: whip out that Mexican thing again. S o m e Latinos, however, saw little humor in Pence’s remarks. A lead- ing House Democrat, Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, said Pence’s words brought back painful memories. “As the son of immi- grants, I’ve lived with the ‘Mexican thing’ all my life,” Becerra told The ‘I never would have believed that into my 50s I would witness a candidate for president and vice president main- streaming the same hurtful rhetoric’ aside criticism of Don- ald Trump’s comments about Mexican immi- grants. They said Pence’s re- mark was dehumanizing and tinged with sexual innuendo. Pence’s comment came ater Democratic vice presidential Tim Kaine pressed the Republican on Trump’s remarks last year comparing Mexican immigrants to rapists. “Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again,” Pence said. By Wednesday, #That- tweeted Wednesday. There was no immedi- ate comment from the Trump-Pence campaign about criticism of Pence’s remark. The campaign has been trying to in- crease its appeal to Lati- nos and other minorities “ president and vice pres- ident mainstreaming the same hurtful rhetoric.” A top state lawmaker in California, Kevin de Leon, said Pence’s re- marks were “absolutely disgraceful.” “He said it like we’re an irritant, (like) he is both- ered by our presence and our contribution to the fabric of this great na- tion,” said de Leon, whose mother grew up in Mex- ico. Pence’s words also led to the creation of a web address, ThatMexican- Thing.com, that redirects visitors to Hillary Clin- ton’s campaign website. In addition, the Latino voting rights advocacy group VL Action Net- work registered the web address, www.thatmex- icanthing.org, “to drive eligible voters to register The way Pence used the word “Mexican” and “thing” seemed the suggest Mexican-Ameri- cans were objects, not people who tend to favor Dem- ocrats and could prove pivotal in key states, in- cluding Florida. Associated Press. “I nev- er would have believed that into my 50s I would witness a candidate for to vote against the scape- goating and complete dismissal of the Latino community.” AP PHOTO/PATRICK SEMANSKY Some scholars and activists mock the remark, while others say it brought back painful memories Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence answers Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine during the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Alexandro Jose Gra- dilla, a Chicana and Chi- cano Studies professor at California State Uni- versity, Fullerton, said the way Pence used the word “Mexican” and “thing” seemed the sug- gest Mexican-Americans were objects, not people. “It was very revealing, especially because of the way Trump has used the word ‘Mexican’ in the past,” Gradilla said. Some see the word “Mexican” as going be- yond describing a nation- ality and sometimes be- ing used as a slur against U.S.-born Latinos. Associated Press writer Amy Taxin contributed to this report from Santa Ana, California.
