A Mexican Restaurant Is Criticized and Accused Of Insulting “Christianity and America” Because of Its Sign “No Love, No Tacos”

CNN

America is the land of the free and home of the brave. And many believe this to be true. In fact, freedom of speech and of expression is honored more than many other nations around the globe. Yet, there will always be those who criticize, at times, for the sake of criticism. It is a free country after all.

In a small Iowa town, Marshalltown, a Mexican restaurant has been the focus of attention after posting a yard sign expressing their political belief, drawing both positive and negative reactions. It is the negative reactions to the anti-racist message which are surprising.


La Carreta is a Mexican restaurant owned by Alfonso Medina that has been serving popular Mexican dishes such as burritos, enchiladas, and chile verde, for the past 20 years. The town of Marshalltown lies some 50 miles northeast of Des Moines.

Due to the current polarized political and racial climate all over the US, Medina decided to take a stand with a simple statement addressing questions of social equality and basic respect. It was a simple issue for Medina. If other businesses such as Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A can openly support Christian causes and donate to anti-LGBTQ organizations, then small business owners like him also have the right to share their views.

The original sign he put up was WE BELIEVE: Black Lives Matter – no human is illegal – love is love – Women’s rights are human rights – science is real – water is life – injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Nothing really wrong with the sign, unless you were a racist, anti-LGBTQ, and so on. Needless to say, lots of locals in the town reacted to the sign, both positive and negative. Some even sent hate mail and threats of boycotting the eatery.

I didn’t think there was anything bad,” he told CNN. He mentioned that his wife even called him “brave” for erecting the sign in front of their restaurant. Medina also sees the issue of racism on a personal aspect. While he was born in Iowa, his parents migrated from Mexico before finding success with their small family business in the small town of Marshalltown. Medina proudly says he was “ Made in Mexico, delivered in the US.”

CNN

Yet, his media feed was quickly full of heated criticism over the sign. One hate mail even accused the restaurant of being Marxist – having “ gone completely POLITICALLY CORRECT” It continued to say that the sign Insults and disrespects Christianity and America.”  Medina shared the letter on Facebook and explained his position.

If a white-owned company has the right to be vocal about their beliefs, big or small, so does a minority-owned tax-generating business,” Medina posted on Facebook. “ Minority owned businesses should not shy away from being vocal or thinking they have to keep to themselves their thoughts.”

Rather than take the sign down, he decided to erect a bigger sign in his yard which simply read, “NO LOVE, NO TACOS”. His vocal stances have also garnered praise and some support from the community, allowing the restaurant to remain open and thrive despite the pandemic, and continue to provide for its employees.

“I’m sorry if the yard sign haso offended anyone, but I don’t believe anything out there is offensive,” Medina added. If anything, everything on there is true. And I stand behind it.” Here he refers to the original sign in front of his restaurant. He continued by saying that the messages gave him more strength in being vocal about his stance. He wrote in Spanish, translated to If they bark, it signifies we are advancing.” In a separate post on Instagram, he wrote,We’re sorry your burrito had to get political, but it was the only way y’all would listen.” He ended the post with a phrase that has since then launched a movement – “No Love, No Tacos.” It became the new slogan of the restaurant.

“I am someone who takes something negative and tries to turn it into something 10 times more positive,” Medina explains. “If they don’t want us, they should align their ideals and their comments with the food they eat.”

Teespring

Medina has eventually copyrighted the slogan, and has a website selling products like T-shirts and hoodies with the slogan. All the proceeds will fund scholarships to the local community college. He has sold over 450 shirts and raised about $4,000 to distribute. And he also put up a much bigger billboard reading “No Love, No Tacos.”

Well, business is booming at La Carreta, with customers its tacos (with love), nachos, and the popular California Burrito, celebrated to be one of the best burritos in the country by Food Network.


Medina also is hoping his platform will encourage people to vote. He is also advocating to turn Election Day into a national holiday. Election Day should be one of the most important days for our country – one day, every four years for our democracy,”  Medina expressed in an interview. and we believe businesses should close on Election Day  in order to let their employees go out and vote.”

It would not surprise us if he did run for mayor eventually. Well it seemed he turned a negative into something 10 times more positive, as he stated. For those who accused him of wrongdoings, you had better go over the Constitution again. Remember, America is still the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

 

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