Racist jokes about Puerto Rico at rally bring anger and disgust: ‘Really how the Trump party sees us’ | Puerto Rico

psome Americans, particularly those of Puerto Rican descent, said the racist remarks made at Donald Trump’s rally Sunday night at Madison Square Garden in New York helped them decide who to vote for.

Speaker and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe took aim at Puerto Rico in a series of racist jokes, including one in which he called it “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign, Danielle Alvarez, claimed in a statement that “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign” despite the fact that the president did not apologize during the rally or afterward and that the remarks had been investigated. , and that Hinchcliffe reportedly spoke from a teleprompter. But for some, the damage had already been done.

David Silva, 62, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, said he was “disgusted that Hinchcliffe thinks this is comedy and appalled that the audience agreed and cheered”.

Others responded to our call with their reactions to the weekend’s events.

Juan Ruiz of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, said the remarks were “nothing more than a reflection of the deeply racist mentality of the sector represented by Trump in the Republican Party”.

Ruiz, 37, said: “It reflects the way they think about Latinos in general. To a large part of the Republican leadership in the United States, Latinos are considered trash. In their nationalistic disputes, they use us as scapegoats and try to blame us for the complex problems facing American society rather than addressing the significant structural deficiencies of their social framework.

“As a Puerto Rican, subject to the colonial domination of the US government, I can only hope that comments like these generate enough anger for our people to commit to fighting for the decolonization and independence of our country once and for all.”

Thomas, 41, of Connecticut, called the jokes “racist and un-American.”

“Puerto Ricans have served in the US military in every major war. My uncle was a Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam who saved his entire platoon and gave his life. He was born in Puerto Rico,” he said. “My grandfather came to the United States and was a business owner … Many tech entrepreneurs live on the island to enjoy the weather, beaches and tax breaks. It’s a slap in the face for us.”

Hinchcliffe also made disparaging comments about high birth rates among US Latino populations – specifically, he said that Latinos “love to make babies”.

“There’s no retreat. They’re not. They’re coming in, just like they did to our country,” Hinchcliffe said on stage.

Retired engineer Isabel Ximena Patino called that remark “beyond insulting and despicable.”

“We don’t deserve this, but that’s really how the Trump party sees us. They don’t even bother to hide it anymore,” she said.

In the aftermath of the rally, some Puerto Ricans said the remarks inspired them to throw their weight behind Trump’s opponent.

Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Fonsi and Bad Bunny expressed support for Kamala Harris for president.

An anonymous Maryland voter said they were “optimistic” that Bad Bunny’s “timely endorsement of Harris” would “serve as a wake-up call to even more people and hopefully get voters on the island to also reject the Trump-supporting gubernatorial candidate Jennifer Gonzalez and her corrupt party”.

The respondent added that Hinchcliffe’s comments were “exactly the type of hate my children will face in the future if Trump is re-elected”.

For undecided voters, the racism they heard on Sunday helped them decide who to vote for. Sylvia Perez, 54, said: “The insult left no debate. I’m 100% Kamala now. I’m sorry.”

Isabella Escobar, a 46-year-old business development executive in Florida, said she made her choice “after hearing those remarks and they weren’t addressed until after the endorsements came in from other famous celebrities for Harris”.

Despite being US citizens, Puerto Ricans do not have the right to vote in US elections if they live on the island – a point of displeasure for these taxpaying Americans. Now, after being directly insulted in public, Puerto Ricans are outraged that they cannot protest at the ballot box.

“I was born and lived in Puerto Rico as a young child to parents from Mexico and Cuba (another island on the brink) … Puerto Ricans who are residents of the island do not get to vote in our presidential election. It makes no sense to me that I have more of a voice in this election than my sister who lives on the island and deals with the impact of US economic policy there,” wrote one San Francisco resident who asked to remain anonymous.

“US policies resulted in thousands of deaths after (Hurricane) Maria and continue to cripple the island. The crushing debt that Puerto Rico lives under is a direct result of US economic policies over which they have no say. The remarks of Hinchcliffe, and no doubt endorsed by the event organizers, are so hurtful and harmful, as well as racist.”

The San Francisco resident added that they were “disgusted by what happened yesterday and remain hopeful that this will be the last straw and that people will come to their senses in this election and understand that they are choosing between evil and a presidential candidate who centers Americans and the destiny of our country”.

Rachael, 44, from Dunedin, Florida, said Hinchcliffe’s words were “ignorant”.

“Would he call Pennsylvania a garbage state? Probably not since those citizens can vote. It seems easy to take pictures of people when there are no consequences. Oh, except when you’ve just insulted Americans of Puerto Rican heritage,” she said .

Still, not everyone was upset by the remarks.

Juan Irizzary of Miami doubled down on his support for Trump, calling the offense of Hinchcliffe’s jokes a result of the “woke era”.

“As a proud Puerto Rican American, I thought Tony was funny. Puerto Rico is not a race; it’s a place. We live in a vigilante era where everything from criticism of thoughts, ideologies and places is considered racist by the opposition, ” said Irizzary, 31.