They accuse the Goya brand of supremacist and call for a boycott 2:40
Editor's Note: Ed Morales is a journalist and professor at the Center for Ethnicity and Race Studies at Columbia University and at CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author of the book "Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico". Follow him on Twitter @SpanglishKid. The opinions expressed are yours. See more opinion articles at CNNEE.com/Opinión.
(CNN) - Like most of my friends and family, I have Goya products in my closet. Adobo, seasoned with coriander and anatto, sofrito (tomato, although sometimes I get the coriantro recaito and black and pink beans.)
Along with a strong latte, salsa from the 1970s and a dark brown fedora that someone gave me for my birthday 15 years ago, I point to my ethnic identity with Caribbean cuisine. I had never really liked how Goya monopolized my grocery store shelves, crowding out other brands I had imagined to be so authentic and perhaps even cheaper. But Goya was there, it was edible, and it allowed me to continue the tradition of eating rice and beans, which is an enduring part of how I make sense of the world.
Then yesterday happened. Goya Chief Executive Robert Unanue turned the world upside down when he commented on the White House lawn that "we are all truly blessed ... to have a leader like President Trump." Unanue made his remarks at a press event that announced something called the "White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative," in front of a gathering of fewer and fewer Hispanic supporters of Trump.
Suddenly, Latinos turned to social media, organized around the hashtags #BoycottGoya and #Goyaway, announcing that they would no longer consume Unanue products. There have been admonitions from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (of Puerto Rican descent) Julián Castro, (Mexican-American) and the former representative of the United States, Luis Gutiérrez (Puerto Rican). Journalist Roberto Lovato tweeted himself pouring a marinade container into the toilet bowl.
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But the debate seems to involve more than just Latinos, as Goya has always been concerned with attracting non-Latino consumers, from Asians to white Americans, using advertising slogans in English such as "Goya, O-Boya." Even former Clinton cabinet member Robert Reich has used the Twitter "boycott" meme about the boycott, as well as model Chrissy Teigen. For many non-Latinos, consuming Goya products is a fairly authentic, albeit superficial, way to practice Latinity.
While they fit a pattern of 26% of Latino voters supporting Trump, Unanue's comments seem puzzling to most Latino voters in the United States. Trump has angered US Latinos since the beginning of his campaign, when he attacked immigrants from Mexico and Central America as criminals and rapists, as well as his callous disregard for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017. In the extreme From Trump In the version of republicanism, Latino scapegoats have engendered a climate of unrest and sometimes fear, all in the service of being meat for their xenophobic support base.
In an interview with Fox News this Friday, Unanue doubled down on his comments, alleging that calls for a boycott are "repression of speech," while conservative tweeters like Senator Ted Cruz rejected "canceling the culture." Unanue, who hails from an immigrant family from Spain who has made Puerto Rico and the New York metropolitan area his home, is fueling a controversy that directly fuels the culture wars Trump seems to want to encourage. In the past few months, amid the covid-19 crisis, it only seems to be getting worse. There have been recent clashes on the ground between mask wearers and non-wearers, statue-busters and defenders of the "inheritance," bearers of black against blue lives slogan, and even the fuss over a letter in Harper magazine about the freedom of expression.
The decree on the "White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative" that Trump signed Thursday creates a 20-member commission designed to work with various Cabinet members to implement vague initiatives related to employment, education and small business development. . But most Latinos will find this effort too little, too late, and too much like the complacency of the election year. The meeting was attended by conservative Republicans from South Florida, former CNN collaborator and Trump substitute Steve Cortes, and recent winner of special elections, California Representative Mike Garcia.
- Twitter users promote boycott of Goya Foods for praise from its CEO to Donald Trump
While Goya fans are divided online over whether to continue the boycott, judging by social media, a sizable number are planning to end their brand attachment. Some have published recipes for marinade and stir-fry, recommending buying old-school packaged, dried beans and soaking them overnight, as my mother still prefers to do. Others have posted suggestions from lesser-known brands like Sun Vista, Pilón, and Badia.
But even if the boycott is strengthened, it seems unlikely that it will bring change; This is not like taking Aunt Jemima or the Native American Land O 'Lakes out of the box, or changing the name of the Cleveland baseball team. Unanue will most likely stick to his promise never to apologize, and it's unclear what even an apology would change.
Goya, the brand will have to deal with a significant drop in sales, at least in the short term, during a time when so many economic indicators are in recession. It seems Unanue is willing to bear this, whatever the cost, for a set of political beliefs that are largely unethical for the majority of its consumer base.
One might think that Unanue's stubborn political conviction must be respected, but in this case it appears that he is shooting himself in the foot to defend an increasingly unpopular president who is not going anywhere quickly. Meanwhile, it won't be so difficult for Latinos to find a way to continue cooking the tasty Caribbean and Mexican dinner dishes without it.
