Today Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez mocked Native Americans at the California Democratic Convention in Anaheim. While in front of an audience, she recounted an incident when a member of the Indian-American community approached her about getting involved in her campaign. As she describes the incident, she puts her hand over her mouth and lets out a shout.
David Bienick of KCRA posted video of Sanchez making the remarks and gesture to his twitter feed.
When confronted by a reporter about the gesture outside of the Anaheim Convention Center, Sanchez runs. You can view the footage of Sanchez dodging questions about the gesture that many deemed offensive to Native Americans here.
Sanchez’s opponent, Attorney General Kamala Harris, called Congresswoman Sanchez’s gesture “shocking.”
But this really isn’t shocking when you put into context how Congresswoman Sanchez brings race into conversations about her political career.
Back in 2010, she said that “the Vietnamese” were trying to take her congressional seat when she was being challenged by Van Tran. She made these remarks on Spanish language television.
Last month, Sanchez told a gathering up in the Bay Area that Kamala Harris can’t speak Spanish, which would prevent her from engaging with the state’s Latino population. Sanchez seems to forget that Harris could utilize a translator or rely on staff who speak Spanish. Furthermore, I would venture to say that a majority of the state’s Latinos are at least conversant in English. This week there were many news reports about English proficiency rising among Latinos living in the U.S.
And then when she announced her candidacy this week, Sanchez tried to turn her Latino heritage into a campaign talking point by saying, “If every Latino gave at least one dollar each, we would have more money than any other candidate.” The implication is that Latinos should open their wallets and give to her campaign because she is the only declared Latino candidate.