How Not to “Apologize” for an Offensive Remark: MINDSETTER™ Joseph Molina Flynn

How Not to “Apologize” for an Offensive Remark: MINDSETTER™ Joseph Molina Flynn

Social media has, among other things: facilitated access to people we would have otherwise forgotten about or remembered fondly; increased the speed with which we consume “news”; and given us the ability to disseminate information widely.

Over the holiday break, as reported by GoLocal, Pawtucket City Council members were at an informal gathering. During the gathering an incident occurred which led to one council member being accused of racism by another. Councilor Mark Wildenhain apparently “threw two $1 bills” at Councilor Elena Vasquez’s face and told her to “take a bus back to Colombia.” This news quickly caught fire among Rhode Island’s Latino community on social media.

To make matters worse, when “apologizing,” Councilor Wildenhain told the Valley Breeze, “the joke was about going back to Mexico, not Colombia, and was consistent with a line of jokes [Wildenhain] maintains with a number of people about their countries of origin, regardless of race. The two $1 bills were simply a reference to how much [Wildenhain] knows it costs to get back and forth from Mexico to Palm Springs in California.” To be sure, Councilor Vasquez is neither Colombian nor Mexican, but that is besides the point.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

The point here is that Councilor Wildenhain’s “apology” was ill-advised, and instead of making a situation better, it inflamed it. We often see that in situations where a person is accused of racism or xenophobia the person gravitates toward a line of defense where he grabs at the closest person of color and displays that person as a token of how he is not racist. That is what Wildenhain attempted to do here. It was not offensive because he does this with everyone regardless of race, in his words.

Yet, the issue remains that his statements, regardless of race, are highly problematic. He obviously would not have felt empowered to make that joke to a fellow white American as $2.00 are barely enough to cover the bus fare from Pawtucket to Providence. Thus, while the “joke” may not have been “racist” it was definitely xenophobic. But for her foreign descent, Wildenhain would not have addressed Vasquez in such a way.

Now, Councilor Vasquez has asked Council President Moran to place this item on the next Pawtucket City Council agenda to allow space for a resolution condemning this behavior and for Wildenhain to issue a public apology. President Moran has so far refused to place the item on the agenda. This sends a message a message that this level of unprofessionalism will be tolerated without public reprimand or repercussion. That is rather unfortunate in a city which is made up of 25% Latinos. Additionally, 1/3 of the general assembly members from Pawtucket are Latino (S. Cano, R. Tobon, R. Alzate). This lack of regard for a large swath of the population should not be tolerated, and President Moran should add the item to the agenda and publicly acknowledge the gravity of Councilor Wildenhain’s faux pas.

 

 

Joseph Molina Flynn is a family & immigration attorney with offices in Boston & Providence. He is the current president of the RI Latino Pac and the RI Latino Civic Fund.