Foot In Mouth Syndrome: The Gubernator and Assemblywoman Garcia
by lainad

Arnold is at it again.

During a closed door meeting on March 3 (but leaked to the press this week), Schwarzenegger, when referring to state Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia speculated about the characteristics of her nationality:

"I mean Cuban, Puerto-Rican, they are all very hot," the governor says on the recording. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

But in response to his remarks, Garcia shrugged it off, saying:

"I love the governor because he is a straight talker just like I am," she said. "Very often I tell him, 'Look, I am a hot-blooded Latina.' I label myself a hot-blooded Latina that is very passionate about the issues, and this is kind of an inside joke that I have with the governor."

So is everyone making a big deal out of nothing? But why bring up the ethnicity of a colleague in order to determine her personality traits, which also infers that everyone of Puerto Rican descent is hot-tempered. Whether this is construed as a positive or negative trait is, well...

Why mention it at all?

I assume that being an Assemblywoman is a stressful, high-profile position in which when speaking to the media, anything that is said will be heavily scrutinized by the public. I do not question that Garcia meant what she said, but to play the devil's advocate, let's say that privately, she was pissed.

But even is she was annoyed that her "buddy" was discussing her cultural background behind her back, could she, as a woman in a relatively high-profile position, speak her mind as a 'hot blooded Latina' and keep her public reputation and more importantly, her job? It seems that a large population of people do not like representatives of their city or state to hold views that differ from what is socially considered 'appropriate'behaviour (i.e.Cynthia McKinney), so what could Garcia do but downplay Schwarzenegger's comments?

Plus, as a CNN anchor said, where did he get his degree in Genetics?

Submitted by lainad (view blog) on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 09:56

Comments

 

Foot in mouth? How about head up ass?

I heard the teasers for the news last night about Ah-nold's gaffe, but didn't stay up to watch. So this is the first I heard of what he said.

And I don't think much about Garcia buying into the stereotypes and self-identifying with that old chestnut "hot-blooded Latina."

This is stock-in-trade self-deprecation, only it doesn't just affect the individual person dealing in it...that person decides for an entire ethnicity or nationality or race or whatever that such stereotyping is OK.

Feh.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 07:52
 

Who said she was "deciding

Who said she was "deciding for an entire ethnicity or nationality or race or whatever that such stereotyping is OK"?

Certainly not the person you're layering this on. She said SHE was OK with it. And why do you both feel that she's not competent enough to make that decision on her own? Why do you think you know better about how she feels than she does? Because you're more "enlightened"?

All due respect here, seriously, but it just drives me nuts to hear people speak for entire groups while complaining about other people speeaking for entire groups...

Jake

Submitted by sink on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 08:12
 

Here we go again.....

I don't think Elisa nor I implicitly stated that we know more about what she feels than she what she said in her response. If you had read the post accurately, I positioned the argument by saying I was playing the devil's advocate.

I can sympthise with how - and I'm playing the devil's advocate here so don't jump on me - if one feels like they cannot respond in the way they would like to for fear of retribution. Maybe that's the case, maybe it isn't, and we will probably never know, but within this situation - at least for me - was something that I thought about when I heard of the report.

Plus,I agree with Elisa that it is incredibly damaging and irresponsible for people who share the same ethnic background to buy into stereotypes.

Submitted by lainad on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 09:21
 

When people engage in it they provide the
excuse

I understand what you're saying, but it is my opinion that when people engage in stereotyping about their own group, whatever it may be, that they provide exactly the example and excuse that people from outside that group need to continue their stereotyping. I can only speak as someone who has observed this in action.

And this woman happens to be extremely prominent so the effect is amplified. But I don't appreciate it any more when it comes from a co-worker whose self-deprecating remarks make other co-workers think it's OK to speak the same way.

My other question would be to turn it around and not ask "what the harm is" in such language, but rather to ask "what is the benefit?"

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 09:21
 

OK, I blogged about this discussion a little
bit

So, here it is over at my political blog.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Sat, 09/09/2006 - 10:04
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