Earlier this week, President Trump made the headlines once more over some racial comments he made during his New Mexico rally for the upcoming 2020 presidential campaign earlier last week, sparking criticism and likely augmenting the divisive line between Hispanics and non-Hispanics.

During his New Mexico rally last Monday, Sept. 17, President Trump sparked criticism over some comments he made about CNN commentator and Hispanic Advisory Council member Steve Cortes, likely drawing a line between nationality and ethnicity. The rally took place during Hispanic Heritage Month, with President Trump seeking the support of Hispanics for his 2020 campaign.

“He happens to be Hispanic, but I’ve never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do,” said President Trump during his rally about Cortes, sparking the criticism and receiving backlash over a never-ending battle with American citizens of Hispanic heritage.

The term “WASP” can be interpreted in two different ways. On one hand, it can stand for “White Anglo-Saxon Protestants,” referring to a group composed of white Protestants in the United States, often descending from the British and connected to wealth. On the other hand, it can be interpreted as an offensive denomination for Hispanic Americans because of what some may perceive as facial features similar to those of wasps, a type of insect that traces back to South America.

Nonetheless, Trump’s comments targeting Spanish-speaking communities here in the United States date back to way before his 2016 presidential campaign. Under his motto MAGA (Make America Great Again), President Trump has insinuated that anyone who speaks a language other than English is an illegal, causing mass hysteria among Americans of non-Hispanic descent. 

Further, the situation we now live through in the U.S. impacts me closely on a personal scale. I was born in Madrid, Spain to an American mother and a Spanish father. I have always been able to say that I could step with one foot in Madrid, while the other stretches over the Atlantic to reach the Florida peninsula.

As a Hispanic student journalist, personal experiences have included long waits in public spaces such as restaurants, or having received misleading information for the simple fact that someone overheard non-English speech between myself and my family.

While this does not have as much of an impact at Oswego State, it does have its effect in what I now call my hometown: Stuart, Florida.

This did not happen while living in Spain. People there are respectful of other races and foreign language. In fact, if you spend a day just wandering around the city of Madrid on a weekend, the language you are most unlikely to hear is Spanish.

Not long ago, in November of 2018, Jim Acosta, CNN White House correspondent, was stripped from his White House credentials over alleged disputes involving his race and ethnicity.

Yet, race and ethnicity should not be an issue when it comes to informing the general public as our Constitution contemplates the freedom of speech as part of the First Amendment. 

The only outcome I can see to the ongoing situation is a divisive line that widens every passing minute.

Photo from @realDonaldTrump via Twitter