Letters to the Editor: The ridiculous “it isn’t racist in Spanish” excuse

To the editor: I applaud Gustavo Arellano for his brilliant piece picking apart the excuses by former L.A. City Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Nury Martinez and current Councilmember Kevin de Léon for making racist comments.

My grandfather (born in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico) lived with us for more than 28 years before he died at age 93. We were never allowed or encouraged to speak in the manner that Martinez and her fellow racists spoke.

My grandfather and our parents (first-generation Californians) taught us that this kind of language was not only disrespectful, but also that only uneducated people spoke about others in this manner. It is definitely not because they “were taken out of context or were improperly interpreted from Spanish slang to English by those who did not have a full understanding of the meaning let alone context of the term.”

When my mom and I heard the recording, we could hear the venom in their voices. They brought this on themselves and are indeed pobrecitos.

Christina Flores, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Thanks so much to Arellano for explaining in plain Spanglish what the current and former L.A. City Council members tried to obfuscate about their behavior with fancy English. Not that we were fooled, but Arellano’s column was fun to read anyway.

I once heard a South African native use the term “pickaninny” to refer to a Black child in our church. She said it was a term of endearment. I wasn’t fooled then either.

As a San Diego native, I use many Spanish words, even though my Spanish is elementary level at best. But now I have two new terms I will love to use — fuera and sinverguenzas.

Ritajean Strauss, San Diego

..

To the editor: While Martinez acknowledged her regret and shame over the contents of the leaked audiotape, some of her comments attempting to excuse her behavior are timeworn cliches that I have heard personally and seen in news reporting for decades.

I would expect to hear things like “I didn’t mean anything by it,” “It has nothing to do with skin color,” “Those words are not meant to ... sound racist at all,” and “It’s just words that I grew up with,” in an interview with a prejudiced white person trying to explain his words and actions.

Seemingly the only cliche she didn’t use was the one that begins, “Some of my best friends are ...”

I can appreciate that Martinez’s words did not sound like they had been crafted by a crisis management company. However, I was dismayed to hear her trot out these lame classic excuses, proving that racists of any demographic can borrow from the playbook of history in a pathetic attempt to explain away their actions.

Michael Krumme, Los Angeles