NBCLatino just post a story where Republican Congressional candidate Jorge Bonilla (@bonillacongress) “pounced” on Congressman Alan Grayson for referring to Hispanics as “brown people.”
“Grayson represents central Florida’s 9th District, which has a Hispanic voting age population of at least 40 percent. But even though his district also leans Democratic, one of Grayson’s Republican challengers pounced on his comments.
“Congressman Alan Grayson’s divisive remarks on race prove that he is completely out of touch with the residents of the 9th District,” said Jorge Bonilla (R) in a fundraising email. “By absurdly claiming that ‘Republicans don’t want to do anything that would help brown people,’ Mr. Grayson reduces an entire group of human beings to color-coded political pawns. Rather than stoking racial grievance and promoting class warfare, Mr. Grayson should find ways to enact policies that actually help job creation and small business development.”-NBCLatino
Grayson’s response:
“Congressman Grayson uses the term interchangeably with the phrase ‘people of color’ to refer to racial minorities in America,” campaign spokesman Todd Jurkowski said when asked to respond to Bonilla’s email.
NBCLatino writer posed the question I asked myself:
“It remains to be seen whether Grayson’s “brown people” moniker is offensive, acceptable, or something in between. But a question worth asking is whether a Republican candidate could also say “brown people” – especially as a blanket term for Latinos, blacks and other minority groups – without swift and numerous calls for his or her resignation.”
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