Democrats are pulling out all the stops to woo the Latino vote – yes they say that every time, but this time the competition is intense – and this year a civil rights icon is going head-to-head the actress and activist who played her in a movie.
On the Bernie Sanders side is Rosario Dawson. On the Clinton side is Dolores Huerta, the farmworker and labor organizer and lifelong activist who Dawson portrayed in the movie “Cesar Chavez.”
NBC News notes that the feud between the two women has not generated headlines and been well chronicled on social media, but show the fissures in the diverse Latino electorate that split along generational lines (Bernie is winning under-30 Latinos, Hillary is winning over-30 Latinos and is crushing Sanders with the over-60 Latino electorate.
The Democratic race is getting testy – though not even close to the gruesomeness of the GOP race – and Dawson, 36 and Huerta, 85, and their fans have been exchanging barbs. Dawson has dismissed Huerta’s work in civil rights and being an “instrument of the establishment.” Fans of Huerta accuse Dawson of failing to show respect to a woman with years on her in activism and fighting for Latinos.
The Dawson-Huerta sparring began with an opinion piece Huerta wrote on Medium.com, titled “On Immigration, Bernie Sanders is Not Who He Says He Is.”
“I like Bernie. He’s a nice guy. I have no doubt he means well. Latinos matter in this election, and he knows it. But my question for Bernie is, where the heck was he for the last 25 years? … He was nowhere. That’s where,” Huerta wrote.
Dawson, co-founder of Voto Latino, responded to Huerta in an open letter published in Huffington Post, opening it with a quote from Huerta, a Clinton supporter.
Dawson acknowledged Huerta’s place in history and her work, but also said she had created a narrative that distorted facts and misguided voters.
“Dolores, I am surprised, dismayed, and concerned that you would do your legacy such a disservice by becoming an instrument of the establishment, rather than joining this movement to create a better America like you once inspired us to do,” Dawson wrote.
The blowback from the younger Dawson, against the older Huerta reflects the tenure of this election, in which being part of the “establishment” is a liability.
Millennials make up about 44 percent of the electorate, a larger share than the youth of any other racial or ethnic group, and the growth of the Latino electorate has long been fueled by its youth. Since Clinton last sought the nomination, some 6 million Hispanics were projected by Pew Research Center to have turned 18.