Hillary Clinton’s campaign is guilty of “cultural appropriation” against Hispanics, according to a 17-year-old girl who expressed her concerns in an email to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.
At issue was a list of “7 things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela,” published by the Clinton campaign last December in a bold attempt at reaching out to Hispanic voters.
The list included things like “She isn’t afraid to talk about the importance of el respeto” and “She reacts this way when people le faltan el respeto.” (The latter was accompanied by a GIF of Clinton smirking and putting her hand on her face.)
A week after the list went up on the campaign website, a 17-year-old Hispanic girl named Mia reached out to the campaign to express her concerns about the campaign, including their crime of cultural appropriation.
“I understand that the media team is trying to appeal to the youth, in funny ways like ‘memes’ but that is simply not the way to go. I cringe almost every time I visit the Hillary Clinton Twitter account or view the Clinton Campaign Snapchat story,” Mia wrote in part. “Young people want to be spoken to like adults, and in some ways it seems like Clinton is just peddling to the masses.”
“It seems to me like Hillary Clintons media team is almost frightened to address the real, pressing issues. The Youth don’t want to know ‘Why Hillary Clinton Is Just Like Your Abuela’, they want to know how she is going to serve this country for the better,” she continued.
“Not to mention ‘Why Hillary Clinton Is Just Like Your Abuela’ was a little disrespectful and cultural appropriating. It is a misguided way to connect with Latino voters.”
Podesta forwarded Mia’s email on to another campaign staffer.
The email was one of thousands hacked from Podesta’s personal Gmail account published by WikiLeaks.