2,000 Tacos Delivered to East Haven Mayor After Insensitive 'Taco' Comments
The mayor of East Haven, Conn., has come under fire for insensitive remarks made towards the Hispanic community following accusations that the police in East Haven are unfairly targeting Latinos in the area.
The community has responded by developing the send-the-mayor-a-taco campaign.
With the help of social media, the campaign has been responsible for over 2,000 tacos being delivered to Mayor Joseph Maturo's office.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The "taco" comment came as Maturo was doing an interview with New York's WPIX reporter Mario Diaz about alleged anti-Hispanic bias in East Haven, as well as the arrest of four police officers.
The four officers are charged with depriving Latinos of their civil rights, unlawfully searching Latino businesses and intimidating people who tried to or report the alleged misconduct.
Maturo, when asked what he would be doing for the Latino community today, answered, "I might have tacos when I go home; I'm not quite sure yet."
After a momentary pause, Diaz gathered his thoughts and said, "You realize that's not really the comment to say right now- you 'might have tacos tonight.'"
Understanding that the comment was not the best choice of words, Maturo, who is of Italian decent, stated that he also might have spaghetti tonight as a way to deflect from his previous comment.
It was too late.
There have been several groups and individuals that have called for the mayor to resign. There are others who seem to feel that it the incident has been blown out of proportion and that everyone should move on.
A resident of Wallingford asked WTNH, "why in this day and age, everybody has to be politically correct? Just take what he said for what it was worth and [don't] turn it into something it wasn't."
In a statement released by his office, the mayor said: "The events of the past few days have focused our Town, and my administration, on the need to deal sensitively and compassionately with the challenges currently facing our Town."
But for many, the comment, whether it was a mistake or just a bad joke, feel that those feelings are the starting point for racism in the community.
38-year-old Jose Tapia, a cook originally from Ecuador said: "I took it as a joke, but deep inside, it's the true version of [racism], that comment."
