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Puerto Rican and Latino community leaders unite against racism at Trump’s NYC rally

By Mivette Vega

October 28, 2024

Politicians, artists, community leaders, and well-known figures from different fields have joined together to repudiate these sentiments.

Donald Trump’s Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden was the former president’s closing campaign event, but it became the stage for the latest attack and disrespect toward Puerto Ricans and the Latino community in the US.

The so-called comedian Tony Hinchcliffe used his “jokes” as a shield for a stand-up comedy session full of hate, discrimination, racism, and stereotypes against Puerto Ricans, other Latinos, and Blacks.

He referred to Latinos as mindless breeders and Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”

Politicians, artists, community leaders, and well-known figures from different fields have joined together to repudiate these sentiments.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi condemned the comedian’s remarks and said that Americans deserved leaders who respected them.

Garbage is what came out of the mouth of Tony Hinchcliffe, and everyone who cheered him on should be ashamed of themselves for disrespecting Puerto Rico like this. These remarks highlight the prejudice and racism still alive in our Nation, and how important it is to elect leaders that reject and combat this bigotry. America is better than this and deserves better. Puerto Ricans and all Americans deserve leaders that respect them. Let’s show the strength of our people at the polls and every day. #HarrisWalz2024,” Pierluisi wrote on X.

Ritchie Torres, US representative for New York’s 15th congressional district of Puerto Rican descent, dedicated several posts on his X account to the situation, even sharing a vacation photo in Puerto Rico, showing the beauty of the island.

“As a Puerto Rican, I am tempted to call Hinchcliffe racist garbage but doing so would be an insult to garbage.  When casting their ballots at the voting booth, Latinos should never forget the racism that Donald Trump seems all too willing to platform,” he wrote in one of the posts. 

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (D-NY), also of Puerto Rican descent, has been one of the most vocal in condemning the comedian’s remarks, on social media and national television.

“Right now, the campaign is scrambling and they’re trying to blame this rhetoric on a so-called comedian. This is not a comedian. This is the Trump campaign. They invited this rhetoric on their stage for a reason.

“It was a chorus of speakers on that campaign for a reason. It was vetted,and they knew exactly who was going to say what before they went on. And so the only backtracking that they’re doing right now is just because tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans happen to live in Philadelphia, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin,” Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC.

Puerto Rican Florida Congressman Darren Soto, also criticized  Hinchcliffe’s “joke.

“Our Floridarican community also takes note of this MAGA attack on Puerto Ricans on the mainland and the island. We have 9 more days to show just how much voting power our community has in America!” he wrote on X.

The candidate for vice president, Tim Walz, participated in an Instagram live with Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday, and recalled the way Trump responded to the disaster that Hurricane Maria caused on the island in 2017.

Does anybody remember how he responded to Maria in Puerto Rico? It was absolutely horrific down there insulting people throwing it. Look, I know that the folks who are on here today understand this.  People in Puerto Rico are citizens, they pay tax and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anybody else,” Walz said.

But instead of apologizing, Hinchcliffe responded with a new attack, especially against Ocasio-Cortez and Walz.

“These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his “busy schedule” to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone… watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim…might be time to change your tampon,” he wrote on X.

“Can’t get over this dude telling someone else to change tampons when he’s the one shitting bricks in his Depends after realizing opening for a Trump rally and feeding red-meat racism alongside a throng of other bigots to a frothing crowd does, unironically, make you one of them,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X.

 

RELATED: Bad Bunny backs Harris for president after comedian’s racist jokes at Trump event

 

Author

  • Mivette Vega

    Mivette Vega is a seasoned journalist and multimedia reporter whose stories center the Latino community. She is passionate about justice, equality, environmental matters, and animals. She is a Salvadorrican—Salvadorian that grew up in Puerto Rico—that has lived in San Juan, Venice, Italy, and Miami.

CATEGORIES: Election 2024
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