What happens if you are a Latino, a Mormon, own your own business in Denver, an eatery called the Rosa Linda Mexican Cafe, and you turn down the Romney Campaign’s request to use your restaurant as the backdrop for a campaign stop? Well, let’s find out, shall we.
The Mormon owners of a Mexican cafe in Denver say that they have gotten death threats, hate calls and fake orders after refusing to allow Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to make campaign stop at their restaurant.
“One person who called said, ‘Watch your back. We know where live and we’re going after you,’” Oscar Aguirre, the son of the owners of Rosa Linda Mexican Cafe, told KMGH New Media Producer Wayne Harrison. “We just didn’t want our business used as a campaign stop.”
Apparently some people were misinformed after a news article in a local alternative news paper incorrectly reported (gosh I wonder how that happened?) that the restaurant refused to serve Romney a meal. Either way, though, that doesn’t justify the abuse these people are taking. They have the right to refuse to have their restaurant used as a campaign prop. As the son of the Mexican Cafe owner said:
He said many callers [who made harassing or threatening phone calls] believe Rosa Linda refused to serve Romney because of a story in [Westword, the local paper] that said Romney “wasn’t invited” to eat at the restaurant.
“That’s not true,” he said. “We just didn’t want our business used as a campaign stop.”
Aguirre, who is Mormon and whose parents are Mormon, was contacted on Aug. 6 about a possible campaign stop by Romney. […]
“It was presented to us that (Romney) wanted to do a political stump here. (He wanted to) talk about our small business (and) because we share our religious views with the candidate and are Latinos it would be great for him to do a campaign stop,” Aguire said. “We did say ‘no’ because we are not Republicans, nor are we Democrats. We will welcome any sitting President of the United States. But, we did not want to be a campaign stop.” […]
“Since the Westword article came out, hate mail has been coming in from people across the country — people sending us death threats and people calling us telling us we are racist — that they hope we go out of business,” he said.
“Last year, we fed 5,500 free meals (video below). This year, we may serve above 6,000 free meals. Please let the American public know that we are not racist or bigots. We are just a working family wanting to help our community and our country by serving those in need,” he said, adding, “Please stop the hate.”
Please stop the hate indeed.
Such nice friendly people, those Romney supporters are. Lovely people, especially the ones who felt the need to frighten the Aguirre family and cause harm to their small business. I wonder who was the source for the incorrect news report in Westword by the way? Or, more importantly, who found the time to disseminate a brief article posted online by small local Denver media outlet to people all across the country? I doubt people outside Denver went looking for this story since I’ll bet 99.99% of them had never head of Westword before. Logic dictates they must have been told about it by someone. Just asking who that might be, is all.
In any case, I guess next time the Romney campaign makes “an offer” to any small business owner to be the beneficiary of a Romney campaign event, they better not refuse it. Otherwise, they may suffer the same fate as the Aguirre family and the Rosa Linda Mexican Cafe.