Tina Dupuy: Dear Republicans, Cubans are not Mexicans

[Judi Lynn]

Tina Dupuy: Dear Republicans, Cubans are not Mexicans
Feb. 4, 2013 5:25 PM, |

Due to an act of Congress, Cuban nationals who arrive in the U.S. after 1959 cannot be illegal immigrants. They’re automatically refugees. It’s amnesty! The federal government has spent billions to assist those who’ve fled Castro’s regime. It was a Cold War policy, signed by President Johnson. If they can get to our shores (many have died in the process), they have an instant pathway to citizenship. They just have to get here. And, since 1995, have what is referred to as “dry feet.”

I say this to Republicans who seem to be aspiring now to win the Latino vote: Cubans are not Mexicans. So when the party touts Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as their go-to Latino — Politico called Rubio “the fresh-faced ambassador to conservatives” (it’s since been scrubbed) — they’re not wooing the 31 million Latinos who identify themselves as Mexican-American, the biggest Latino group and therefore biggest Latino voting bloc in the U.S.

Cubans may speak Spanish and be from someplace else, but their immigration experience is unique to the island they come from — and our policy toward said island.

And Puerto Ricans, the second-largest Latino group in the country, are also not “illegals.” They’re Americans. The island is a U.S. territory. I’m just trying to help you out, Republicans.

More:
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130205/OPINION05/302050001/Tina-Dupuy-Dear-Republicans-Cubans-not-Mexicans?nclick_check=1

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. I love her... just don't tell my girlfriend :-P nt

[libdem4life]

2. Yes, they are definitely different in so many ways from those people we "conquered" to fulfill our

Manifest Destiny. That would be the South of the Border folk. Yes, we won California and Arizona and New Mexico and Texas et al fair and square. We're just pissed because some of them want to come back to their ancestral home ...especially after all of our "help" with the Israels who "just want to go home".

[dballance]

3. I Lived in Miami for Several Years

For background, I'm a white male from TN and was still very naive when I moved to Miami.

One thing you didn't want to do is refer to any person as being from a place/culture that they were not from. You didn't want to call a Cuban a Mexican or Puerto Rican. You didn't want to confuse any of the Central and South American cultures with one another. I did this repeatedly when I first moved to Miami.

All Hispanics and Latinos are very proud of each of their unique heritage and cultures - as they rightly should be. So the GOP might actually end up shooting themselves in the foot on this one - exactly what Tina Dupuy is implying.

The thing I would add is that not only are Republicans confusing Mexicans for Cubans in some instances they're pretty much assuming/labeling anyone who speaks Spanish as Mexican in many, many cases. That won't go over well I think. I wonder how much Republicans would like being confused for Canadians if they were abroad?

[libdem4life]

4. Yes...lived in LA and SF for almost 50 years.

There are intricate subdivisions, as well. The farmworkers in the Central Valley (large percentage of US food production) legal or illegal, farmworkers in wine country, seasonal or permanent, are another segment.

The Demorats typically understand all these very important nuances, they just have not felt it necessary to nurture them appropriately. This must change and could be the difference between 8 more years in the White House, more SCOTUS appointments, and the beginning of the long, hard pull back from the brink of the right-wing Tea Party folk.

[hopemountain]

5. don't worry ~

latinos recognize one another's "agendas" - particularly those shilling for the gop.