Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., may be the sons of Cuban immigrants, but some in the entertainment business don’t see the two lawmakers as authentically Hispanic.
The senators only “embrace their Hispanic heritage” when it’s “convenient,” a Nightly Show panel agreed this week.
“To me, it’s really upsetting especially when it comes to the issue of bilingualism because Rubio speaks perfect Spanish,” contributor Grace Parra said, as the rest of the group nodded along. “Because Rubio speaks perfect Spanish and he never chooses to pull it out.”
“I think race is important to talk about when talking about this because it feels like, in an attempt to get rich, white voters,” she added, “Rubio and Cruz especially have actually alienated Latinos to the point where Latinos don’t trust them … We don’t even necessarily consider them Latino because they haven’t embraced their heritage.”
Earlier, on Feb. 3, the New York Times published an op-ed exploring arguments that the Republican senators are not really Hispanic.
“Neither Mr. Cruz nor Mr. Rubio meets conventional expectations of how Latino politicians are supposed to behave,” wrote University of Southern California professor Roberto Suro. “Neither of these candidates claims to speak for the Hispanic population or derive a crucial portion of their support from Hispanics, and neither bases much of his political identity on being a Latino.”
In January, Univision’s Jorge Ramos suggested in a column that both Rubio and Cruz were race traitors because of their respective positions on immigration control.
“There is no greater disloyalty than the children of immigrants forgetting their own roots. That is a betrayal,” he wrote.
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews also cast doubt on the senators’ background, and asked the Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel last fall if people can really consider Rubio or Cruz as Hispanic.
“So you’re trying to insinuate that Marco Rubio, a fellow, uh, Spanish surname, I’m not sure the right word is Hispanic for them,” he said. “Because they are Cuban nationals or whatever. Or come from Cuba.”
Later, when GOP front-runner Donald Trump threatened to boycott a primary debate, Matthews also scoffed at the idea that anyone would want to tune in just to watch “two Cubans” discuss foreign and domestic policy (the cable news host apologized for the remark after he was criticized).
The issue of media challenging Cruz and Rubio on the authenticity of their Hispanic heritage is an old one, and both senators have addressed it separately at different times.
On Thursday, they addressed it together.
“It is extraordinary that of five people standing on this stage that two of us are the children of Cuban immigrants,” Cruz said during a debate hosted by CNN and Telemundo. “I would note that a lot of folks in the media have a definition of Hispanics that you can only be Hispanic if you’re liberal.”
Rubio added later in the debate, “I think it’s amazing that on this stage tonight there are two descendants of Cuban origin, and an African American [Dr. Ben Carson]. We are the party of diversity, not the Democratic Party.”
In November 2015, the Daily Beast’s Ruben Navarrette Jr., himself Hispanic, took on media challenges to the senators’ Cuban backgrounds.
“[A]re Cruz and Rubio Hispanic? That’s easy. It’s a blood thing,” he wrote, citing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which defines Hispanic as, “A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.”
“The senators are ‘of Cuban origin,’ even if they do come at that experience in personal and radically different ways,” he added. “As tends to be the case in matters of ethnic and cultural identity, it’s complicated — more than you’d realize from listening to white liberals like Chris Matthews, who must find it increasingly difficult to explain a world they don’t understand.”
