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That was the message the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and others sent to First Lady Jill Biden after comments at a Hispanic conference in San Antonio on Monday in which she appeared to compare Hispanics to tacos.
Addressing the UnidosUS annual conference in Texas, the first lady praised the community’s diversity, saying it was “as diverse as a bodega in the Bronx, as beautiful as the colors of Miami, and as unique as breakfast tacos here in San Antonio.”
Biden also mispronounced “bodegas” while trying to praise the Latino community, and a video of her remarks attracted more than 2 million views.
The backlash was swift. In a tweet, NAHJ said the organization “encourages @FLOTUS and her communications team to take the time to better understand the complexities of our people and communities. We are not tacos. Our heritage as Latin Americans is shaped by different diasporas, cultures and food traditions.”
“Don’t reduce us to stereotypes,” the tweet concluded.
By Tuesday morning, Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for the first lady, tweeted an apology, “The First Lady apologizes that her words expressed anything but pure admiration and love for the Hispanic community.”
Most Hispanic and Latino groups did not publicly criticize the first lady’s comments. But that hasn’t stopped some Republicans from seizing the analogy and using it to bash her and her husband, President Biden.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted a video of Biden’s comments, writing: “Jill Biden says Latinos are ‘unique’ like tacos and calls bodega ‘bogida.’ No wonder Latinos are fleeing the Democratic Party!”
A Washington Post poll of Hispanic Americans found that 49 percent approve of the way President Biden is doing his job, more than voters overall. Still, his approval rating among Hispanics has declined since last year.
In a series of tweets, Irene Armendariz-Jackson, a Republican running for Congress in a Texas district that includes El Paso, was particularly scathing. “I am an American born to legal Mexican immigrants,” she tweeted. “I don’t identify as Latinx. I don’t identify as a bo-goo-da. I also don’t identify as a breakfast taco person. I am a proud American. I am a proud Spanish woman. Enough of this idiotic racist pandering, please.’
And Daniel Alvarez, communications director for the Republican National Committee, released a statement accusing Biden and Democrats of taking the Hispanic community for granted.
“Their attempts to please are disrespectful and humiliating,” Alvarez said in the statement. “With Jill Biden comparing us to tacos, it makes sense why Latinos strongly disapprove of this unreachable, failed administration and are leaving the Democratic Party in droves.”
Biden’s remarks to the annual Latino conference were subject to the regular White House process for such a speech, requiring approval by several White House units — including the offices of intergovernmental affairs, legislative affairs and public engagement — according to a person familiar with the speech, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.
As first lady, Biden has emerged as the administration’s key emissary to the Hispanic community and immigration activists. That role has met with a mixed response from activists, who say they appreciate her being a direct link to the president but wish they had more direct access to White House political staff.
Biden began learning Spanish in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and during the 2020 campaign, she began weekly meetings with small groups of Latino members of Congress, sharing her concerns with her husband. During the campaign, she also crossed the border to serve a Christmas meal to asylum seekers in a refugee camp in Matamoros, Mexico.
After her husband was elected, one of Jill Biden’s first acts was to appoint three Latinos to serve as top members of her staff — Anthony Bernal as senior adviser, Carlos Elizondo as social secretary and Julissa Reynoso as chief of staff.
Biden has since participated in a 2022 naturalization ceremony in Bakersfield, California, ahead of Cesar Chavez Day. She toured three cities in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month last October and chose Latin America as the location for her third solo trip this May, making a six-day diplomatic visit to three countries in the region.
In comments Monday, a person familiar with the matter said Biden was trying to highlight — however awkwardly — a point of local pride in San Antonio: the breakfast taco.
In an interview, Yvette Cabrera, vice president of online for NAHJ, said that after Biden’s comments, the group’s rapid response team huddled to assess its own response. They understood the first lady intended to praise the community, she said, but also concluded her remarks fell on deaf ears and decided to offer a “proportionate” response — a tweet rather than a full statement on their website.
“I understand that her intent was positive — she was trying to compliment the uniqueness of Latinos — but really what she did was resort to a stereotype that really doesn’t represent the diversity of the Latino community in the United States,” Cabrera said. “It was disappointing because it felt like she was resorting to a shallow stereotype when she could have used the opportunity to look at and give some examples of that diversity.”
Cabrera added that there are countless complex challenges facing the community — difficulties in accessing reproductive health care and abortion, for example, or barriers to access to voting — that Biden could mention to better show understanding. you are for Latin Americans.
“It would be great to see her demonstrate her understanding and knowledge of these issues,” Cabrera said.
The first lady isn’t the first political figure to stray when using food to try to connect with the Latino community. In 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted a photo of himself eating a bowl of tacos in honor of Cinco de Mayo.
“The best taco bowls are made at the Trump Tower Grill,” Trump wrote at the time. “I love the Spanish!”
Mariana Alfaro and Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
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