Time
By Sergio I. Garcia-Rios
November 4, 2015
It
is now well-known where GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump stands
on immigration: He has called Mexicans “rapists” and criminals and has
emphasized his plan to
build a wall on the Mexican border. It’s less clear where NBC stands on
Trump: A wave of Latino disapproval led NBC to dump him as host of its
Celebrity Apprentice series and drop its participation in Trump’s Miss
USA and Miss Universe pageants. But now the
“The Donald” has made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy
Fallon and is scheduled to be the host for Saturday Night Live this
week.
NBC’s
inconsistency shouldn’t surprise anyone: After all, Trump has been
pointed as one of the the main reasons behind record ratings for the GOP
debates. But this flip-flopping
also reminds of something bigger, which Rep. Luis Gutierrez, speaking
on the House floor, poignantly pointed out: “If Donald Trump had said
gays and lesbians were murders and raping Americans, would he get to
host the show?”
The
answer to this question is obviously complicated. Make no mistake,
discrimination against gays and lesbians continues today and is
unacceptable. But general perception
about discrimination gives an extra layer of context to the
discrimination against Latinos—it is not always seen as problem by the
broader community.
Data
from the non-Latino sub-sample in the American National Election
Studies in 2012 showed that when about 4,900 eligible voters were asked
whether Latinos face discrimination
only 8.75% said that Latinos do face a great deal of discrimination.
Conversely, when asked about gays and lesbians 20.2% claimed that gays
and lesbians face a great deal of discrimination. In fact, only 67%
stated that Latinos face discrimination at all whereas
90% stated that gays and lesbians face some type of discrimination.
Of
course, it shouldn’t be a question of which group faces more
discrimination. But this data does highlight a dangerous perception
toward Latinos that may reflect what
many media outlets and political actors believe.
NBC’s
decision to feature Trump as host of SNL also shows the extent to which
Latino unity grows and persists. The National Hispanic Leadership
Agenda, a nonpartisan association
of major Hispanic national organizations and distinguished Hispanic
leaders from all over the nation, sent a letter to the television
network stating: “We are appalled that you would enable Trump’s hateful
speech for nothing less than a ratings ploy and ask
that you rescind the SNL invitation.” Groups including the National
Council of La Raza, MoveOn.org and America’s Voice also have campaigns
targeting NBC, and most recently the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have
officially come out in opposition to Trump hosting
the show.
The
GOP should take note: According to a study of the 2012 election I
published in Political Research Quarterly, one of the largest factors
affecting the Latino vote in
favor of Obama was Mitt Romney’s comments that illegal immigrants
should “self-deport.” In my research, using a large, historic range of
survey data from 1960 to 2006 I also found that when faced with
discrimination, such as Trump’s comments, Latino identity
is embraced at higher rates and results in greater political action.
NBC
might not cancel Trump’s appearance on SNL. Ratings are ratings, after
all. But the fact that Latinos across all ideological lines are reacting
so strongly and are
staying united says more about Trump’s chances for election in 2016.
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