LA Taco published a piece pointing out how in an Instagram post Carnitas El Momo came across as tone deaf with their use of All Lives Matter and defending friends who are police.
I think these protests are inspiring a lot of people to leave their echo chambers. The whole I’m not political/racist, I just accidentally regurgitated hate speech All Lives Matter bullshit is really telling.
While I disagree with his views I won’t stop eating his tacos (I probably won’t be as inclined to post about them either though). In the end we all have to choose how comfortable we are with separating the personality from the craft. If you enjoy Michael Jackson’s music it doesn’t make you a pedophile, but if you sympathize with his life choices then that’s a whole other thing. I can see how this would make people feel uncomfortable but what if he never said anything, you would be consuming in ignorance? In a way I wish I didn’t know, but it is what it is and while I disagree with his views I do understand his point of view and I’m going to try my best to compartmentalize the politics and the tacos separately.
Think that’s always been the struggle with any artist whose art appeals to you, especially since art is so interwoven with personal experience.
In this case, I didn’t think either side was that inflammatory about it. LA Taco has long been a proponent of local Latino businesses, Carnitas El Momo among them. El Momo felt betrayed for what felt like an attack on what they thought were inclusive statements. It was an uncomfortable discussion for all sides about biases and tone, and as with many uncomfortable discussions, passions were inflamed.
He’s deleted the Instagram post. Hopefully passions have cooled and more productive conversations can follow.