NHMC Statement on Rep. Young's Use Of Anti-Latino Slur
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2013
CONTACT
Inez Gonzalez
igonzalez@www.nhmc.org
(213) 718-0740
Washington, DC -Today, House Speaker Boehner and other Republican leadership have demanded an apology from Congressman Don Young of Alaska for his reference to Latino workers as “wetbacks” on a local radio show.
The following statement can be attributed to Alex Nogales, President & CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition:
It is a sad day in our country when we have our nation’s leadership using dehumanizing language to refer to Latinos. Although Rep. Young explained why he used the word “wetback” to describe the Latino farm workers that labored on his family’s ranch, it does not make his remark any less toxic and still warrants an apology. Slurs like “wetback,” “illegal,” and “illegal alien” have, shamefully, become all too common in our national discourse. There was no place for this type of language twenty years ago and there is no place for it now.
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About NHMC
The
National Hispanic Media Coalition is a non-partisan, non-profit, media advocacy and civil rights organization established in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Its mission is to educate and influence media corporations on the importance of including U.S. Latinos at all levels of employment. It augments the pool of Latino talent with it s professional development programs. It challenges media that carelessly exploit negative Latino stereotypes. It scrutinize and opines on media and telecommunications policy issues. Learn more at
http://www.nhmc.org. Receive real-time updates on twitter @
NHMC.
