Latina Councilwoman's Accent Mocked During Racial Inequality Chat

Rockville MD

05 March, 2021

11:34 PM

Description

ROCKVILLE, MD — Nancy Navarro, the first Latina to serve on the Montgomery County Council, was discussing racial disparities in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout when two people could be heard laughing at her accent. The comments were made during Tuesday's virtual council meeting by a council staffer and a contractor from Montgomery Community Media. At the time, Navarro — a native Spanish speaker and Venezuelan immigrant — was saying that the county's rollout was failing Black and Brown residents. "I love how her accent comes out and (how she) pronounces words like she thinks they're pronounced," the female staffer said. "Like, she says 'represents' and 'hologram.'" The MCM trainee replied: "I heard 'hologram,' and I was like, 'that's good.'" "So cute," the woman said while laughing. In an interview with CNN on Friday, Navarro said she did not hear the comments while she was addressing the council. She only found out about it when staff approached her at lunch. "It was a startling situation at first because, of course, I am very passionate about racial equity and social justice, especially in light of this pandemic," she told CNN's Brianna Keilar. An investigation is now underway. After Tuesday's incident, MCM CEO Nannette Hobson released a statement that read: "As a nonprofit leader, an African American and a woman, I take very seriously the type of microaggression displayed by the exchange during the hearing yesterday. Participants in conversations like these intend to make the subject of the comments appear to be less than, while normalizing the behaviors of bigotry. Let me be clear, MCM does not condone nor tolerate such behavior by our employees. Appropriate measures have been and will be taken."