Racist Statement Uncovers Real Tea Party

Let’s give this “problematic Latino Texas legislators” thing one more go-around; it’s that important. News Taco reported yesterday that a prominent Texas Tea Party activist had single-handedly determined that the problem with Texas’ congress is that there are Latinos in it. She didn’t say that in so many words, but that’s the gist of her revelation.

Rebecca Forest, founder of the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, stood in front of the State Capitol in Austin, spoke into a microphone and said,

If you want to know why we can’t pass legislation in Texas it’s because we have 37, no 36, Hispanics in the Legislature. All of the states that have passed legislation have a handful and I mean literally, some of them have no Hispanic legislators, well, maybe 3 or 5 or something. So that’s, umm, part of our problem and we need to change those numbers.

That’s about as toxic a statement as toxic political statements get. Every conservative politician from Amarillo to Brownsville is distancing themselves from it, especially Texas Governor Rick Perry who’s flirting with the Tea Parry about a possible run for the presidency. Perry’s strategy has been to keep the GOP and the media guessing about his candidacy while making speeches and statements that are designed to endear him to the Tea Party faithful.  According to the Houston Chronicle Forest’s comment

was quickly condemned by the Republican leadership, with Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus all issuing statements.

It’s going to be hard for the Texas Tea Party to shake free from this one.  It was a hate filled, racist comment and the Tea Party folks gave Forest the time and the  microphone to make her statement.

The truth is that there are in fact many Latinos in the Texas congress. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports:

Texas actually has a higher percentage of Latino lawmakers in its state legislature than nearly every other state, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. As of 2009, all but a handful of states had five or fewer Latino state legislators. Texas had 37.

Things would be so much easier for Texas conservatives of there were no pesky Latinos to deal with. Of course the same could be said for Tea Party members in the Texas legislature, but that defeats Forest’s point, whatever that may have been.

Let’s make this as clear as possible: Forest singled-out a group of Texans according to their ethnic background and laid blame on them for her party’s inability to produce an immigration bill to their liking.  What happened, I think, is a simple case of the inmates taking over the asylum. It’s the same group of people who are trying to prohibit sanctuary cities and approve SB1070-type laws in Texas.

They won’t be successful though, because there are Latinos in the Texas legislature – 37 to be exact, and those 37 will be getting in the Tea Party’s way. Think of it as a true colors moment: stark, raw and beyond any doubts.

The important thing about this statement is that it uncovers the Tea Party, its leadership, its followers and its elected officials. There’s no mincing the words – it was blatantly anti-Latino and it was applauded by Tea Party anti-Latino rank and file.

So now the Texas Tea Party has inadvertently showed it’s hand – they don’t want Latinos taking part in government, messing up their state, tripping up their laws.  They apparently want their state back. But what they haven’t understood is that it was never theirs to begin with.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda