US First Lady Jill Biden apologized today for pointing out during a speech that Latinos are “as unique” as breakfast tacos made in San Antonio, the Associated Press reported.
The wife of the American President Biden was the guest of honour at an event of the largest civil rights organization of people of Latin American origin in the United States and made a speech to the attendees.
The first lady apologizes for her words, which did not express her true admiration and love for the Latino community, Jill Biden’s spokesman Michael LaRosa tweeted.
The first lady was in San Antonio yesterday to speak at the annual conference of UnidosUS, the civil rights and advocacy organization formerly known as the National Council of La Rasa.
However, her attempt to compliment Latino diversity didn’t go over too well when she said the community was “as unusual as” the so-called “bodegas in the Bronx”, as beautiful as the flowers in “bloom in Miami”, and as “unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio”.
Also, Jill Biden mispronounced the word “bodegas,” used for small shops in urban areas that typically carry Spanish groceries.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists and other organizations said on social media that they were offended, and the journalism organization tweeted, “We are not tacos.”
Using breakfast tacos to showcase the uniqueness of Latinos in San Antonio demonstrates a lack of cultural knowledge and sensitivity to the diversity of Latinos in the region, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said.
The association noted that the first lady and the people who wrote her speech should “take time in the future to better understand the complexities of our people and communities.”
Last week, US President Joe Biden awarded the former longtime leader of Unidos US, Raul Isagüre, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour.