Pierluisi says that criticism of a video where he calls former co-workers “dark” is to divert attention

The candidate for governor’s bid for the New Progressive Party (PNP), Pedro Pierluisi, reacted to a video where he recounts his experience as a dishwasher with black people, whom he called “prietitos” in the United States.

In the face of criticism from different sectors for the term “prietito”, Pierluisi cataloged as absurd that they want to qualify their expressions as negative, assuring that he spoke of the pride he felt in his work that helped him pay for his studies.

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– Pedro R. Pierluisi (@pedropierluisi) June 29, 2020

“Trying to attribute a pejorative intention to myself by expressions taken from an audio from several years ago is absurd, when instead it was in the context of me being in a place working with pride as a dishwasher and cook to pay for my studies, when I did not speak Good English and where we were all minorities, ”said the also former resident commissioner.

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For Pierluisi, criticism of the video is a strategy to divert it from the subject and bring hatred to the public discussion.

“My trajectory against discrimination and equality is clear, and I will not deviate from continuing to carry my message of giving Puerto Rico a government of excellence. I repudiate any intention to inject hatred into public discussion. What our society needs is peace and sensitivity and that is what I will always focus on.

Early this morning, a video of the candidate began to circulate through the PNP, stating that “I have washed dishes, without gloves, in the United States with some little shades that I did not even understand English.”

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