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    • Trump’s New York Rally Sparks Furious Backlash Over Bigotry, Hate
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    Trump’s New York Rally Sparks Furious Backlash Over Bigotry, Hate

    Umito Posted on

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    Even by the extraordinary standards of this election season’s rhetoric, Sunday’s rally in support of Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden reached a new low.

    The rally appeared to crystallize the former president’s assertion that America is “like a trash can to the world” because of migrants and the Democratic leaders — “the enemy within” — who accept them.

    “Yesterday’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden echoed the dangerous rhetoric of the infamous 1939 Nazi rally held at the same venue,” said Voces de la Frontera, an immigration rights group based in Milwaukee, in a press release. “The event was filled with racist and offensive remarks”

    Among the barrage of statements made at the rally:

    • Puerto Rico is a “floating trash heap.”
    • Latinos continue to have babies because “there is no opting out,” just as they come to our country and never leave. (The actual line was an even cruder sexual reference.)
    • Our country was built on hard work, not diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
    • “America is for Americans and Americans only.”
    • Vice President Kamala Harris is a “Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor.” (His mother was born in India; his father was born in Jamaica.)
    • Harris is the “Antichrist” and “the devil.”
    • Harris imported criminal migrants from “jails and prisons, insane asylums and mental institutions around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo.”

    The sources for these comments were raunchy comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, television personality Dr. Phil, Trump advisor Stephen Miller, Fox personality and Trump whisperer Sean Hannity, longtime Trump friend David Rem and Trump himself.

    Some observers saw the event as the latest in a campaign filled with hateful comments. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera and a national leader on immigration reform, called it a “distraction” intended to create more fear of Latinos and immigrants in the United States.

    Others expressed shock, particularly at Hinchcliffe’s comments on Puerto Rico, which even the Trump campaign has tried to disavow. Prominent Puerto Rican artists, including Grammy-winning artists Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, condemned Trump’s rally remarks, as did many politicians who are Latino or have Latino constituencies.

    Closer to home, Awilda Bosque reacted with emotion after learning from her husband and daughter that her native country had been mocked.

    “It’s not a joke,” she said. “Puerto Rico is a beautiful island.”

    Bosque has lived in Milwaukee for 20 years, she said, but grew up in Puerto Rico and returns there frequently. The 53-year-old guard said her entire family was voting against Trump.

    Although voters living in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories are not allowed to vote in the presidential election, Bosque put electoral choice in a broader context.

    “The hatred of Trump is not just directed at us,” Bosque said. “This goes out to our other Latino brothers and sisters as well. I hope that Puerto Ricans, who are still undecided, will realize that he is racist.

    Brandon Yellowbird-Stevens, a Puerto Rican father of four, is vice president of the Oneida Nation. Yellowbird-Stevens added that Puerto Ricans are also indigenous, as the Tainos tribe was indigenous to the Caribbean, including the island that became Puerto Rico.

    “To me, it really speaks to the type of individuals that Trump has in his camp…people with racist overtones,” he said, adding that he was speaking for himself and not the tribe . “It really speaks to how they view indigenous people and people of color.”

    CK Ledesma Borrero, 37, an interdisciplinary Puerto Rican artist from Milwaukee, echoed that perspective.

    “This is the way the United States Empire has always viewed Puerto Rico since its inception,” Borrero said.

    Borrero’s work interweaves culture, identity, and activism against patriarchy and capitalism, among other social issues. The positive side, Borrero said, is that more people might learn about Puerto Rico’s mistreatment after Sunday’s rally.

    “I hope this makes people understand that a specific party has no interest in representing us,” Borrero said.

    Puerto Ricans now make up the second-largest Latino group in the United States, numbering approximately 5.8 million people. according to the Pew Research Center. An additional 3.3 million people live on the island.

    In Wisconsin, Puerto Ricans make up 1.06 percent of the population, with just over 60,000 people, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s overall Latino population is approaching half a million people and has grown nearly 8 percent over the past decade. It is the largest of Wisconsin’s minority groups.

    There are approximately 45,000 Native Americans in Wisconsin. The state has 11 Native reservations, the second-most reservations east of the Mississippi River.

    Forward Latino, a service and advocacy group based in Franklin, released a statement saying that despite the Trump campaign’s attempt to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s line, Trump’s actions as president suggest otherwise.

    After Hurricane Maria in 2017, then-President Trump blocked the release of about $20 billion in emergency aid that the island was authorized to receive. “Because of this,” said Forward Latino National President Darryl Morin, “many projects were canceled or delayed and the majority of the island went without power for over 10 months, causing the unnecessary loss of additional American lives.”

    Morin also pointed out that more than a quarter of a million Puerto Ricans have served in military engagements from World War I to the present.

    Last night’s comments reminded the Hispanic and Latino communities, as well as all their allies, Morin said, that “American freedoms and advantages belong not just to those with privilege, but to all Americans.”

    Cecil Negrón, 71, moved from Ponce, Puerto Rico, to Milwaukee when he was 8 years old. He said he was tired of Puerto Rico being undervalued.

    “We are Americans,” Negrón said.

    Negrón, a Caribbean jazz musician, said he focuses his energy on motivating Puerto Ricans and Latinos to get out and vote. This election season, he played his conguero at several rallies urging Latinos and minority voters to vote.

    “We’re here,” he said, “and we’re not going anywhere.”

    USA Today contributed to this report.

    Umito
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