Twitter drags Julián Castro for suggesting military bases be named after Latinos
Julián Castro took to Twitter to advocate for better representation for Latinos, but some users think maybe he should sit this one out.
On Tuesday, April 14, Castro retweeted an NBC Latino article about Latino congressional members, including Rep. Joaquin Castro, calling for an army base to be named after a Latino military hero. It was their way of pushing for more recognition of Hispanics in the military.
The former San Antonio mayor and HUD secretary echoed that push, questioning why the U.S. has military bases named after Confederates and not after Latinos.
“That must change,” his tweet concluded.
Many Twitter users weren’t exactly having it.
“[T]he ‘democrat vs republican’ bomb meme was supposed to be PARODY,” noted @planet_please.
“Of all the things happening in the US and Latin America, this is what you’re advocating for?” asked user @raphrodisiac. “This country has been such an oppressive force in Latin America, will naming military assets after Latinos make the exploitation feel any better?”
“Imperialism, [b]ut make it Inclusive,” commented user @alicia_dl_1, complete with the sparkling star emoji.
“Sir, Woke Imperialism is NOT where it’s at,” user @teoami informed Castro.
“I refuse to believe this isn’t an Onion article,” shared @saltytrashwitch.
“He said why drop bombs when we can drop bombas,” said @AdrianXpression.
“Literally why on earth would you want to be associated with such a dubious honor when many of the places the [military] is used to destabilize are Latino countries,” argued user @lavieap. “This ain’t it. I just know you have something better to do than perpetuate this insult to injury.”
“[I] wanted healthcare but this is way better,” @skyscrapersoup sadly joked.
While some questioned why Castro didn’t take the tweet down, others imagined the Latino-focused building names.
“[W]hat we really need is a [C]esar [C]havez military base in [I]raq,” pointed out @m0ntythepython.
“Selena Quintanilla Youth Migrant Humanitarian Welcome Center (Donna, TX),” imagined @cesarmvm.
“[I can’t] wait for the Cesar Chavez Black Hawk to terrorize people crossing the border,” cracked @dani_l0l.
“USS George Lopez,” suggested @tankbearclaw, while @aguaardientes recommended “Fort Walter Mercado.”
“Imagine dropping a b*mb named Cesar Chavez on a brown country,” speculated user @Totoltetl.
“I wonder if this is gonna be a ‘Dolores Huerta Army Detention Center’ level of bad or a ‘Augusto Pinochet Air Force Base’ level of bad,” questioned user @RafaPtolemy.
Read more from Sarah
