Since her well-meaning but ill-advised post, “7 things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela”, Hillary Clinton has garnered a lot of criticism for what critics began to call “hispandering.” With both Clinton and Donald Trump vying for the Latino vote, there has been a lot of tone-deaf appeals to hispanic culture (let’s not forget Trump’s Cinco de Mayo twitter picture with a taco bowl from his own hotel, captioned, “I love Hispanics!”). But Clinton seems to finally understand how to highlight and uplift Latino voices through her campaign without getting into the mud with “hispandering.”
His teacher and family talk about how he decided to join the army because of a profound “love for this country”. His parents then tell the story of his enlistment and the heart wrenching account of finding out that their son had died in the field.
"He died defending this country,” his mother says in Spanish, “this country that welcomed him, adopted him, that saw him grow.”
His history teacher tells of how Damián was granted citizenship posthumously, due to a speed up of the nationalization process for immigrants who served in the U.S. military signed by President Bush.
“He wanted to be a citizen to have the right to vote,” his father says in Spanish, as pictures of Damián in his army uniform flash on the screen. “He’ll be voting from above.”
Once you can barely see the screen due to the tears clouding your eyes, the spot moves on to Donald Trump and the offensive things that he has said about latinos. We are reminded of the times Trump has called Mexicans murderers, “rapists” and a threat to peaceful citizens. His voice barrels through the ad as the screen flashes with pictures of Damián as a child, and of Damián’s mother crying over his uniform.
“I just think it’s important that Donald Trump take a step back, and think about what really makes America great,” says Gary, ”and I think it’s the people who live here.”
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Clinton’s newest ad is narrated mostly in Spanish so her campaign released two versions; one with Spanish subtitles and one with English ones. The ad features the two parents of Damián López Rodriguez – a soldier who gave his life fighting in the Iraq war. It also features his American history teacher, Gary, the only person in the ad who speaks in English, who states that Damián “epitomizes what is good about this country,”His teacher and family talk about how he decided to join the army because of a profound “love for this country”. His parents then tell the story of his enlistment and the heart wrenching account of finding out that their son had died in the field.
"He died defending this country,” his mother says in Spanish, “this country that welcomed him, adopted him, that saw him grow.”
His history teacher tells of how Damián was granted citizenship posthumously, due to a speed up of the nationalization process for immigrants who served in the U.S. military signed by President Bush.
“He wanted to be a citizen to have the right to vote,” his father says in Spanish, as pictures of Damián in his army uniform flash on the screen. “He’ll be voting from above.”
Once you can barely see the screen due to the tears clouding your eyes, the spot moves on to Donald Trump and the offensive things that he has said about latinos. We are reminded of the times Trump has called Mexicans murderers, “rapists” and a threat to peaceful citizens. His voice barrels through the ad as the screen flashes with pictures of Damián as a child, and of Damián’s mother crying over his uniform.
“I just think it’s important that Donald Trump take a step back, and think about what really makes America great,” says Gary, ”and I think it’s the people who live here.”