In North Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood, signs of Puerto Rico are never far away. The red, white and blue flag of the American island territory adorns homes and businesses, and the sounds of salsa and reggaeton echo from passing cars and restaurants selling fried plantains and pork skewers.
The area is the center of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican population of more than 90,000 people and forms an important part of Pennsylvania’s Latino community, with both Democrats and Republicans heading into the Nov. 5 election. We’ve been trying to capture this community.
But on Monday morning, many locals were outraged by a joke made by cartoonist Tony Hinchcliffe at Donald Trump’s rally in New York the night before, in which he described Puerto Rico as a “trash island.”
Some say the joke could come back to haunt Republicans in a key battleground state that Democrats won by a narrow 1.17%, or about 82,000 votes, in 2020.
Yvonne Torres Miranda, a local resident, said, “The election campaign itself was very painful. It’s crazy for me,” and said that although there were only eight days left until the campaign period, Republican Trump and Democrat Kamala Miranda Harris said he remains disillusioned with both candidates.
“Even if he (Mr Hinchcliffe) was joking, I wouldn’t make such a joke.
“We are Puerto Ricans. We have dignity and pride,” she told the BBC in rapid Spanish with a strong Puerto Rican accent.
“You have to think before you say things.”
The Trump campaign quickly distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s joke, with a spokesperson saying the comment “does not reflect the views” of the Trump campaign or his campaign.
Harris’ campaign blasted the joke, with the vice president saying the comment was a sign that Trump was “fueling the fuel to divide” Americans.
Her opinion was echoed by Puerto Rican celebrities Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez, who endorsed Harris on Sunday.
Campaign officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS that the controversy was a political gift to Democrats.
Some Puerto Ricans agree with that assessment.
“(Joke) just bagged it for us. He literally just gave us the win,” said Jesse Ramos, a Harris supporter. “He has no idea how passionately the Latino community will support Kamala Harris.”
Residents of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean, cannot vote in presidential elections, but the large U.S. diaspora can.
Across Pennsylvania, about 600,000 voters are Latino.
More than 470,000 of them are Puerto Ricans, one of the country’s largest population centers and a potential deciding factor in a state where polls show an extremely close race between Harris and Trump.
North Philadelphia has been a particular target for Harris, who on Sunday made a campaign stop at Freddie & Tony’s, a Puerto Rican restaurant and community hub in Fair Hill.
The same day, Harris announced a new policy platform for Puerto Rico, pledging economic development and improved disaster relief, while also criticizing Trump for “abandoning and disrespecting” the island during Hurricane Maria in 2017. denounced.
It remains to be seen whether this will sway Puerto Rican voters.
Freddie & Tony’s owner Dalma Santiago told the BBC she didn’t know if the joke would bring about change, but she believed it had been heard “loud and clear” in Fairhill and other Puerto Rican communities. He said he was there.
“Everyone has their own opinion,” she told the BBC. “But no one will ever forget that.”
Similarly, Moses Santana, a 13-year U.S. Army veteran who works at a harm reduction facility in Fairhill, said he’s unsure about the joke’s impact.
In an interview with the BBC on a street corner in Fairhill, Santana said the region has traditionally been weary of politicians of all kinds, and that both parties have failed to address socio-economic problems, crime and drug abuse in the region. Many people said they believed that there was no such thing.
“People around here tend to have a hard time getting what they want,” he added. “Even when it comes to voting.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump will campaign in Allentown, a town of about 125,000 people in central Pennsylvania, where about 33,000 people identify as Puerto Rican.
But even among Trump supporters in Pennsylvania’s broader Latino community, the joke was not well received.
Among them was Jessenia Anderson, a Puerto Rican resident and Republican voter from the town of Johnstown, about 240 miles (386 kilometers) west of Philadelphia.
Anderson, a military veteran who was born in New York’s Lower East Side, which has a large Puerto Rican population, frequently attends Trump’s rallies in Pennsylvania.
She described the joke as “highly offensive,” said the routine act felt “too out of place,” and implored her fellow Republicans to have “thoughtful and respectful conversations.” did.
But Anderson has no plans to change his voting rights.
“My belief that the party can have a positive impact remains strong,” she said.
“I hope they treat Latino voters with the respect they deserve.”
