Hispanic groups upset by legislator's slur

Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, said he meant no disrespect when he used the term "wetbacks" during an Assembly Ways and Means Committee meeting.

Marvel, 72, has since been admitted to Carson-Tahoe Hospital. He'll spend several days there.

Marvel's long tenure as a legislator was cited as a leading factor for outrage over his recent comments.

"He owes us a public apology. It happened in a public forum, he owes us a public apology and so does Morse Arberry," said Fernando Romero of Hispanics in Politics.

The Hispanic groups, including the Alianza Latina and League of United Latin American Citizens, were upset that Arberry, D-North Las Vegas, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, said the choice of words was "not appropriate but accidental" and then said he considers Marvel a brother.

Eddie Escobedo, chairman of Amigos for Democracy, said that Arberry, who is black, likely wouldn't have treated Marvel's comments so lightly if the slur were directed at any other race.

During a Ways and Means meeting last Friday, Marvel said the state should hire "wetbacks," a term that refers to Mexicans who enter the country illegally, to do repair work at the Lost City Museum in Overton because they have a knowledge of working with adobe.

archive