Time to Answer Back

Dear editors everywhere: The letter "a" with an acute accent has an ALT code of 0225. This means if you go to your keyboard and press the "ALT" button and then press "0-2-2-5," the symbol "á" will appear.

This is going to become important because Julián Castro has just announced that he is running for president.

Now, that leads to an obvious question: Why in the wide wide world of sports does the name Julián require the accent? Well, let's see. His name ends in the letter "n." This means that by regular rules of pronunciation in Spanish, the emphasis would be on the second to last syllable. So, without the accent, the man's name is Ju-LEE-an. And that just doesn't sound right.

I for one am glad that the name Julián Castro requires an accent because it's not potentially bothersome enough to Trump voters for me that his last name is "Castro."

I mean I say that tongue-in-cheek, but at the same time, I am struck by an overwhelming feeling that it's important for the Democratic party to nominate a brown person and/or a female person in 2020.

Because I think that all of this needs to be answered.

All of this. You know, don't you, that Trump's first major platform plank was an attack on our neighbors south of Tejas, right? I mean, first he presented his erection about the crowd's size. Then, he rattled through ISIS, China, and Japan. And then he laid the cornerstone:

When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they’re killing us economically. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. Thank you. It’s true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

The first thing Trump attacked was our neighbors to the south. And he continued to be his Donald Trump self, bludgeoning people of color, people who speak Spanish, both, and women. He insulted Carly Fiorina's appearance. He associated anchor Megyn Kelly with blood. He has repeatedly chased down Sen. Elizabeth Warren with an insult club called "Pocahontas." He has separated children from their families and still maintains concentrations camps for those children, based solely on those peoples' legitimate quest for asylum in the United States and because they are brown people. He said that a judge ruled against him due to the judge's Mexican heritage. He referenced some nations as "shithole countries." He pardoned Joe Arpaio. He made a major issue of American citizens, also known as "football players," for legitimately protesting the state of race relations in the United States. He asked reporter April Ryan to establish a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus for him because she was a black woman who asked him about the Congressional Black Caucus.

And then there was Charlottesville. Remember Charlottesville? "On both sides?" Really?

As I think of the Democratic primary process and as talented, smart people begin to toss their hats in, I have to think at this point that we have a chance to answer all of this, a chance to clap back, a chance to raise a fist and to declare ENOUGH!

Yes, Julián Castro's name requires an accent. So, I believe, does the Democratic nomination process.