La Raza Plays the Race Card in the Health Care Debate

By Ira Mehlman, FAIR Media Director

"Will health care reform leave Juanita and Manuel behind? This question could be decided in the next few days. We need to call our nation's leaders and ensure that Latinos are not forgotten," begins the action alert from the National Council of La Raza.

Who are Juanita and Manuel? Reading the La Raza action alert we learn that they are a fifty-something couple living in Ohio. Manuel is a truck driver and the family does not have health insurance. They fear that they might be left out of the health care reform proposal now before the House of Representatives.

The La Raza email never quite gets around to telling us why Juanita and Manuel might not be eligible for taxpayer subsidized health insurance. The email emphasizes that Juanita and Manuel are Latinos, but never mentions whether they might be excluded because of their immigration status. Instead, over and over again, La Raza suggests that they might not be covered because of their ethnicity. "Although Congress is taking steps to extend health care coverage to millions of people who don't have it, it remains unclear how Latinos will fare," La Raza warns.

There is one, and only one, reason why Juanita and Manuel might not qualify for government subsidized health insurance under the America's Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 - and that is if they are illegal aliens. Even illegal aliens might not have much trouble getting subsidized coverage if the House leadership manages to keep the gaping loopholes they included in the bill from being closed.

While routinely accusing everyone with whom they disagree of subtly and not so subtly playing the "race card," the La Raza action alert is typical of how they persistently play it themselves. Not only do they consistently blur all distinctions between legal immigrants and illegal aliens, in an effort to promote their extremist agenda they lump all Latinos in the United States together with illegal aliens.

There is absolutely nothing that is "unclear about how Latinos will fare" under the House bill. Latinos will be treated exactly the same as everybody else, and the folks at La Raza know that perfectly well. Instead, in pursuit of their political agenda, they are prepared to offer up false and divisive rhetoric designed to inflame passions.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that La Raza does not represent Latinos in America. They represent illegal aliens and their own desire to build a political power base in order to leverage government concessions and corporate financial support.