Julian Castro's 'teaching' moment isn't over yet

Likewise, Castro has contributed a lot to the Democratic primary by leading on policy proposals, chastising the media for its lack of diversity, and pushing other candidates to adopt aggressive reforms like decriminalizing unauthorized entry into the United States.

This man deserves better. Instead, he has been overlooked, ignored, criticized, underestimated and marginalized.

NBC -- which some diversity advocates claim stands for "Nothing But Caucasians" -- recently hit, in just 48 hours, the trifecta of Castro disrespect.

-- On Friday, MSNBC interviewed Castro's twin brother, Joaquin, the San Antonio congressman, and mistakenly tweeted that they had spoken to Julian. Joaquin has a beard. But if that's not enough for journalists to tell the two apart, the congressman will help. He tweeted back: "Should I get a face tattoo?"

-- On Saturday, while interviewing Julian Castro at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, MSNBC's Katy Tur asked what may be the most offensive question yet of the 2020 campaign: "How would you feel about the Democratic Party if the next nominee was Caucasian?" Castro, a class act, said he would "enthusiastically" support the nominee. He should have snarked: "How would I feel about a white nominee? Well, let's see. I've had a lot of practice."

-- Later that night, a skit about the Democratic candidates on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" left Castro out completely. To think, anti-immigration activists fear that Latinos are everywhere. I guess they don't own televisions.

On the trail, the candidate gets asked by white folks how he got into elite universities. As someone who also pulled off that trick, I'll answer: by working twice as hard, with no connections and little credit, to be considered half as good.

Every presidential hopeful writes his or her script. While others market themselves as crusaders, statesmen, and prosecutors, Castro is the teacher. Whenever he educates voters, political observers, or the media on some aspect of the Latino experience that they're ignorant about, he teaches.

Castro needs to stick around for a minute. Americans still have a lot to learn.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.