The Media's Double Standard for Latino Politicians
But wait. Since when did that become relevant? It hasn't been an issue with non-Latino candidates. Rick Santorum is once again running for the Republican nomination. His father came from Italy. Does the former senator from Pennsylvania speak fluent Italian? I don't think any member of the media has ever asked him.
Yet, Cruz got asked about speaking Spanish. In fact, that's putting it mildly. Actually, the Cuban-American got raked over the coals, and all but accused of being a cultural impostor.
On April 30, in a wince-inducing interview, Mark Halperin -- host of Bloomberg Politics' online show "With All Due Respect" -- tried to determine if Cruz was the real thing. He asked him to welcome his colleague, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, to the presidential race "en espanol." Cruz politely refused.
After a firestorm ensued, Halperin issued a carefully worded non-apology.
Cruz did not look like he was having fun during the interrogation. He later called the questions "silly" and "ridiculous."
How times have changed. When Julian's mother, Rosie, was growing up in San Antonio in the 1950s, Mexican-American kids would get paddled for speaking Spanish in public schools. Today, some Latino politicians can get publicly excoriated for not speaking it.
Should we call this progress? It feels more like a double standard, as Cruz himself noted after the interview. It also seems like something worse: a brazen attempt by the mainstream media to tell Latinos who should lead them and who shouldn't, who they can relate to and who they can't, and who they should criticize or excuse for not speaking Spanish.
These are not fun facts. The fact is, this sort of patronizing attitude from the media is offensive and something we can do without.
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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.
Copyright 2015 Washington Post Writers Group
