In this April 29, 2015, file photo, people walk past displays of Goya Foods products at the new corporate headquarters in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)
The comments from Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue praising Donald Trump in the White House —in a manner that looks more like boot licking than anything else— have shown something very important but that has always being present in the incredibly diverse conglomerate we call Hispanics/Latinos/Latinx.
It’s simple: a lack of political consciousness and solidarity while willingly and enthusiastically supporting white supremacy.
I use more Goya products that I can count. I have even defended Goya and recreated Puerto Rican and Latino recipes in which I use their products. No more. I have joined the boycott. As soon as I posted I was joining the boycott on Facebook and Twitter, I had an avalanche of support and a good number of responses calling me all kinds of things. I checked social media, and that is more or less what was going on across the board.
Let me address some of those “arguments” which when broken down, show how gravely confused the Latino community is when it comes to race. Sure, they disguise it as tradition, freedom of choice (“I have always used Goya, don’t tell me what to use”), and the canceling of Latino culture.
The “canceling Latino culture” argument is so irrational, it’s sad. It is as if Goya, instead of canning beans, was always in charge of canning our culture. Or as if they weren’t supporting people who despise our cultures, believe them inferior, and want to suppress them and to cancel us as Trump, his advisors and his base would like to do.
Some try and fail to be clever by saying, “I defend freedom of speech- don’t bring your politics into my food,” and in the process they show that they don’t understand what neither politics and freedom of speech are. And of course, they condemned those exercising FREE SPEECH by peacefully demonstrating against police violence and systemic racism.
But back to the matter at hand. Being at the White House as the CEO of a brand that has portrayed itself as Puerto Rican/Latino/Hispanic to express aberrant support of a white supremacist who has caged Latino children en masse, denigrated Latino people and culture nonstop for five years while criminalizing Latino people and culture is a strong political statement.
It is also immoral one.
Unanue sided not only with whiteness but with white supremacy. But this is no surprise. Many Latinos will always do that because they have spent a lot whitening themselves and have benefited from not “being Black.” They have also bought into an “American Dream” that wasn’t meant for them just as it wasn’t meant for Blacks, and to be honest, neither for most whites. But just as they defend whiteness, they defend the rich, the billionaire, the trillionaire—because in their delusion they think they will get there too.
Those calling for the Goya boycott, #Goyaway, are exercising their freedom of speech and voting with their dollars. They are taking a political position that is both right, necessary, and morally unassailable.
We are denying our support to white supremacists and their eager collaborators. We are making a stand to those who have criminalized us and painted a bullseye on every Latino’s back. This is not about different political opinions. That we actually can handle and better than those defending Goya. What we won’t tolerate is when your politics include the suppression of our communities.
As the African-American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist- and all around philosopher James Baldwin put it: “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
And that is what Trump and his base stand for—white power, and not just white privilege. Just look at his closest advisor, Stephen Miller, who has been outed several times as a white supremacist. And this is not some propaganda and brainwashing fed to us by the ghost of communism. We don’t need CNN to tell us how deplorable the president, his advisors, and his base are. We only need to hear their own words, look at their actions and the policies they try to implement to conclude that they are white supremacists, neo-confederates and neo-Nazis. If anything, CNN and company are too soft on them. It is Trump’s supporters and defenders who drank the Kool-Aid.
I’m not telling you that you can’t support Trump. I’m ok with that. I neither look to convince you to open your eyes—because you have already made your choice. But know that we are in two separate sides—perhaps in irreconcilable ones. And that is the case because you support those who deny “my humanity and right to exist” and thus you are my enemy instead of my brother or sister.
And one more thing: all your performed Puertoricaness —saying wepa, dancing, waving flags— means nothing at all when you support those who have a knee to our communities’ neck.
You are just another performer for a master who hates you.
#Goyaway
#BlackLivesMatter
#LGBTQlivesmatter
#BIPOC
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Harry Franqui-Rivera, Ph.D. is historian and author of Soldiers of the Nation: Military Service and Modern Puerto Rico, 1868-1952. He tweets from @hfranqui.
I am going to stop buying those products. Any how , there are not that great anyway. We buy them in this continent because sometimes we don’t have any other choices. In Puerto Rico we do. Now, we are going to start Badia products, which have the adobo, sazón, and others. ?????
The CEO of Goya is a complete Dick just like his counter part. What a piece of shit I promised never to buy Goya products. Buy Libby products instead. The CEO of Goya is Brown Nosing, kissing a white ass racist, let’s see how far he bends for Trump while Mr. Trump shoved it up his ass.
Very well written and very saddening. We cannot accept this type of behavior anymore. Our power is in our vote and we must exercise it. Thank you Dr. Franqui-Rivera. God bless.
This opinion piece is poorly written. Anyway, I am a man with brown skin who doesn’t identify ethnically. From my perspective, the essence of human existence is moral development, and this moral development incudes the repudiation of ethnicity. Ethnicity is an accidental in life. I didn’t choose my brown skin and I did not choose my ethnicity. When I experience the world, it isn’t through the lens of a color or a group. The idea of shackling myself to a group of people based on color or heritage is demeaning and repulsive. I embrace a culture of truth, because truth is transcultural.
I am shocked the writer of this piece is in possession of a Ph.D..
So what is the truth that you see here? I’m curious because you say that you follow truth but don’t really state what part of his message you disagree with specifically or back your opinion with any sources besides a plea to emotions that uses well written language to not engage in the larger idea that he is expressing. What is your thoughts on the Goya boycott?
Mr. Leo, when I listen to some people, it seems as if they want to explain the social ills of today as happening because of the behavior of just one group of people. It is as if this one group of people they want to demonize think exactly alike. The author of this opinion piece engages in gross stereotyping. I am a person who has thought about the human condition, as it may have existed millions of years ago. I think of the evolution of our species as a movement toward greater moral sophistication. I don’t think of people as races, but populations. I don’t think of my existence as a matter of ethnicity, but continued cognitive moral sophistication. I understand most of us are still in an intellectual place where we must defend ourselves through group identity, but I would prefer we do so highlighting what ideologically unifies us, rather than with the superficial mask of color or ethnic identity. This is where real change might occur. I would argue any concern you have with the Latino community is also shared by members from every group. I don’t want to hear news about Black people, White people, Mexican people, Asian people, etc. If you are concerned about healthcare, it ought to be expressed as a low-income need. Obviously, some people would argue we aren’t ready to dismiss our ethnic identities because it seems as if one group of people control the greatest amount of wealth. If you think about human evolution, doesn’t it seem plausible one or two groups might emerge with more “advanced” technologies, allowing them to benefit more than others, while they still grapple with their developing morality? Slavery still exists. Mexico still has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Women are still oppressed and forced to cover themselves. I have ideas about meaningful boycotts, rather than defying a can of beans, but these ideas would require the participation of every nation.
Next year, supposedly brave athletes will take knees at the Olympics, but if they truly had their intellectual druthers, their myopic gestures would logically prevent them from participating in the games. Are you someone who believes all the social ills of the world may be placed at the feet of white people?
Over three years ago, I received in the mail “A Voting Guide for Latinos.” I was insulted. Why? Perhaps you can answer this question for me.
Mr Franqui-Rivera thank you for expressing our sentiment so eloquently with your permission I will repost this so the misinformed, uncaring fellow Latinos and Puerto Ricans can grasp a clear picture of how we feel with your words.
Just a few word for Ivanka Tump she can shove that Goya can of bean and shove it up her ass and while she’s at she can use also shove up her father ass. I will never buy Goya products again
Thank you for your comments. I fully support your position. We as Raza have allowed this white nationalist president to insult us, attack family members, cage our children, attack our elected officials like Aexandra Occasion Cortez for being critical of him and telling her to go back to where she came from, attacking DACA, eliminating health insurance and causing the death of thousands of our people by denying COVID 19, and list goes on. This is a great opportunity of striking back economically to one of those companies that has enabled and encouraged the president to offend us. Instead of standing on the side of the people who buy his product he praising and nalga licking the offender. Let us all show the CEO of Goya and the president what we can do when we decide to fight back. Que Viva La Huelga de Goya!!!
I fully support the boycott of these products. As noted, they are unhealthy, & contain processed chemicals. The CEO of Goya needs to remember who made him the wealthy puppet that he’s become. It’s very disheartening to hear& read his praises of the President. It is Latinos like him, who forget to ‘dance with the ones who brought them’ & instead praise those who privately abhor them.
Boycott? We are in a pandemic. There have been food shortages. Faux righteousness is really just another mask…just more sanitizer. Slather it on. Why dont you climb in and love your neighbor instead of being right. Every can of refried…may get to someone who may be very hungry…Darn if Im going to down any group canning and preserving food. If that rattles Latino accuracy in how you should be represented…Then you all should have been labeling the food and feeding Goyas customers first…Buy them out…And be happy…Theres your solution…Buy Goya out…or shut up.