E3: LOS GRINGOS (AND SARA) CALLED DAD "A DIRTY MEXICAN"

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Just when you thought it was safe to go out and vote in the Democratic Party Texas Senate District 27 runoff election between incumbent Eddie Lucio Jr. and Sara Barrera Stapleton, his son is charging her and her supporters - Planned Parenthood of Texas - with using the racist "S" word against him because he's Mexican-American.

("S" as in "sucio," or dirty, as in dirty Mexican, apparently.)

A local white blogger christened "Sucio" Lucio nearly a decade ago and until the current reelection runoff election, neither Lucio nor E3 had ever objected to the sobriquet.

But now, as early voting progresses with the last day July 10 and the election July 14, this supporters are objecting that national organizations like Planned Parenthood and Texas Freedom Network that  support Stapleton's "pro-choice" stand on abortion would use that nickname to describe her Mexican-American opponent. (click on graphic to enlarge.)

Pro-Life America mailouts in support of Lucio have charged Stapleton with killing babies (in the ninth-month of pregnancy) and for supporting abortions paid with tax dollars. In television spots he charges that she (an attorney) has defended criminals who have smuggled cocaine into the United States and that she is "not one of us."

In a mass mailout, Pro-Life features a crying infant with the text in Spanish and English that states

"He's got every reason to be angry...Give our babies a reason to smile about by voting against Stapleton-Barrera." (Of course, if the baby had been aborted, it wouldn't be alive, or crying, or smiling for that matter.)

His son wrote that Planned Parenthood used he racial term "to attack (his father) and his traditional Catholic values of support for life."

'"Those big, special-interest groups from outside our border community should comprehend the deeper connotations behind the word "sucio" (dirty Mexican) and the association of a person of Hispanic descent," E3 said in a press release today.

In the Rio Grande Valley, the niceties of separation of church and state are blurred by the predominantly conservative Catholic majority, and Bishop Daniel Flores quickly came to the Lucios' defense. Although he said he expected Planned Parenthood to attack Lucio's pro-life record, he said it was imperative that words be sued with care.

"Representative Eddie Lucio III's statement (on use of the word sucio) accurately reflects my sentiments," he wrote.

The Lucios' objection to the use of the "S" word triggered a debate in cyberspace, with some commenters saying Lucio deserved it for supporting anti-LGBT legislation that discriminated against that community.

"Well, you father played the LGBT community of SD 27 dirty when he co-signed SB6," wrote Jose Colon-Uvalles.

"Your father plays dirty politics and this weak attempt at trying to make this a racial issue is embarrassing and offensive. It is his own constituents that are holding him accountable for the horrible track record of throwing us under the bus to line his pockets. Tell your father we don't care."

Several Lucio supporters, including local ad agency mogul Rodrigo Moreno, who like G.F. McHale Esculo - the blogger who coined the term - have supported both Lucios in the current elections, came to his defense.

The Lucio supporters charged that the word "dirty" fit too neatly into the current national conversation over race and white privilege.

"We cannot be single-issue activists," Moreno said. "The same way an African-American is offended by the "N" word, the same way that "F" word hurts a member of the LGBT community, it is also demeaning to call a Mexican-American ''sucio..."

"Far too many times "Dirty" has been used to put our culture down. I know what words mean. I know what it is to look at your child's eyes and explain why they said that, and why I couldn't do anything about it for fear of deportation...

"Any candidate using expressions like that should be singled out and confronted, especially if that candidate's name is Stapleton...Talk about white privilege. You might feel offended by the senator's stand on issues, and it is your right to call out everything you see wrong. But it is nobody's right to use a racial slur against any minority."