The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) ripped into first lady Jill Biden on Monday after she made a speech in Texas’ second-largest city comparing the locals to tacos.
Biden, who was speaking at the 2022 UnidosUS Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, made the comparison after talking up the diversity of the city’s Hispanic community, which she called “as beautiful as the blossoms in Miami” and “unique as the breakfast tacos” of San Antonio. NAHJ responded by accusing the first lady of lacking cultural knowledge.
“NAHJ encourages Dr. Biden and her speech writing team to take the time in the future to better understand the complexities of our people and our communities,” said the group, which has three chapters in Texas. “Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by various diasporas, cultures & food traditions. Do not reduce us to stereotypes.”
“We are not tacos,” the group added.
NAHJ encourages @FLOTUS & her communications team to take time to better understand the complexities of our people & communities.
We are not tacos.
Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by various diasporas, cultures & food traditions.
Do not reduce us to stereotypes. pic.twitter.com/KQIq5gwsht
— NAHJ (@NAHJ) July 12, 2022
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is Hispanic, also piled on Biden by changing his profile photo on Twitter to that of a taco.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/QsYqCaNOoP
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 12, 2022
According to the conference, the first lady was the featured speaker at the “Latinx IncluXion Luncheon,” where she was slated to speak about equity in education.
But the remarks also hearken back to an infamous blunder Biden made in 2021, when she tried to speak Spanish to a handful of California farmers and botched a rallying cry, saying “pwa-dre” instead of “puede.”
First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, completely butchered "Si Se Puede" while speaking to farmworkers in California on Cesar Chavez's birthday. pic.twitter.com/6MjhGuMccY
— KUSI News (@KUSINews) April 1, 2021
Biden’s speech on Monday included a similar moment — instead of referring to the corner stores known as “bodegas,” the first lady referred to them as “bogedas.”
At a "Latinx IncluXion" conference, Jill Biden says the Hispanic community is as "unique" as tacos.pic.twitter.com/Vb5wJyYGWB
— RNC Latinos (@RNCLatinos) July 11, 2022