Recently, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was in the news for criticizing the judge who is overseeing one of the cases involving Trump’s defunct Trump University, a real estate education program he had a majority interest in and had drawn income from (although he was not involved in the daily operations of its classes).
Some students from the program were dissatisfied with the material the program offered and their outcomes after they had paid for it, and a number have participated in class-action lawsuits against Trump and the organization, one of which is the one being overseen by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who Trump has called biased.
Trump has referred to Curiel as “a hater” and as both “Mexican” and “Spanish,” although technically the justice was born in Indiana to Mexican parents.
Because of Trump’s prior negative statements about Mexican immigrants — one of which he famously began his presidential campaign with — the outspoken candidate feels that Curiel may be inclined to be prejudiced against him.
In a June 3 CNN interview with anchor Jake Tapper, Trump claimed that “[Curiel] is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can’t even believe. This case should have ended years ago on summary judgment. The best lawyers — I have spoken to so many lawyers — they said, `This is not a case. This is a case that should have ended.”
“Now, I say. `Why?’ Well, I’m building a wall, OK? And it’s a wall between Mexico. Not another country… [Curiel is] of Mexican heritage and he’s very proud of it.”
As soon as this interview aired, the press around the country loudly castigated Trump for being prejudiced against Mexicans and Hispanics in general. Many critics, including a number of prominent politicians in Trump’s Republican Party, were vocal in their opposition to Trump’s statements and his opinion.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan distanced himself from a recent endorsement of Trump, saying that “I completely disagree with the thinking behind [Trump’s comments]… claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich initially called Trump’s remarks “inexcusable.” Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, a stubborn Trump critic, tweeted, “Public Service Announcement: Saying someone can’t do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of racism.”
Later, on June 7, Trump’s campaign released a statement:
“It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard. I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial…. Due to what I believe are unfair and mistaken rulings in this case and the Judge’s reported associations with certain professional organizations, questions were raised regarding the Obama-appointed Judge’s impartiality. It is a fair question.”
What the Trump campaign is referring to is the fact that Judge Curiel is a member of a number of Latino-centric organizations and law groups, including the Hispanic National Bar Association, the National Hispanic Prosecutors Association, the Latino Judges Association and the San Diego La Raza Lawyers’ Association.
It is this latter group in particular that has notoriety for some. The term “La Raza” (Spanish for “the race”) is often used by Hispanics to describe the identity of their demographic, however, some people charge that this word is occasionally invoked to connote a superiority over other races and ethnicities.
The word comes from an essay entitled “La Raza Cósmica” written by presidential candidate José Vasconcelos in Mexico in 1925, discussing a new ethnic identity that was emerging in Latin America that he claimed would supersede the previous European-dominated one that controlled the levers of world power.
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is a U.S. based pro-Hispanic political advocacy group that has been called a thinly-veiled racist organization that promotes hatred, discrimination and illegal immigration. In the past, the group drew all of its funding directly from the federal government, but today, three-quarters of its operating budget comes from private citizens and businesses.
Tom Tancredo, a former Colorado congressman, has labeled the group a “Latino KKK,” and the website Infowars has called Judge Curiel a “Hispanic Grand Dragon” within the national organization.
Despite the NCLR’s controversial reputation, it has been courted by members of both major political parties; in 2008 and 2011, President Obama delivered keynote speeches to the group when he sought its members’ support for his election and reelection campaigns.
Meanwhile, the San Diego La Raza Lawyers’ Association has denied any ties between its group and the NCLR, but a number of political pundits aren’t so sure. The founder of the California chapter of the association, Mario Obledo, is on record as saying that he foresees California becoming a “Hispanic state.”
On a 1998 radio show, he claimed, “We’re going to take over all the political institutions of California. In five years, the Hispanics are going to be the majority population of this state… [Whites] ought to go back to Europe.” Although Obledo died in 2010, his comments were reprinted in his obituary in The New York Times.
While Latinos have been among the groups violently protesting at Trump’s rallies — including in San Diego — NCLR president Janet Murguía released a statement condemning the recent confrontations:
“People have a right to be angry. We’re angry too. But violence is never the answer. [The NCLR] worked with [former socialist Venezuelan president] Cesar Chavez and continue to work with the organization he founded, the United Farm Workers. These civil rights icons and paragons of nonviolent protest have been our guide stars throughout our history… NCLR has not called for nor participated in protests at any candidates’ events, including Donald Trump’s. Since the term ‘La Raza’ is a nod to our common heritage, many, many groups share our name, but we are all separate, unaffiliated organizations.”
Still, as websites and the print media dig deeper into this story, some politicians are tempering their criticism of Trump. In an interview on CNN, Newt Gingrich stated that Trump made “the kinds of mistakes that amateurs make,” but that he’s “learning very, very fast… and has taken very significant steps… toward a more controlled, more civil approach.”
Unfortunately, the general public isn’t necessarily equally informed about the La Raza connections of Judge Curiel. Trump’s remarks may be some of the most costly yet in terms of support, particularly within the growing Latin-American demographic.
However, for now, time is on Trump’s side, as neither party’s national convention has occurred yet, and there’s still a healthy amount of time before the general election in which Trump can spin and further distance himself from some of his more pointed attacks.
Being more media savvy than nearly any candidate, he knows full well the weight of the 10-second sound bite and the overarching importance of the 24-hour news cycle. He may yet let some time pass before he revisits this issue, at least in a public forum.
It remains to be seen how long or how deep people’s memory will be of this particular speech and whether it will have any impact on the outcome of the Trump University court cases.
