Pete Turner is once again under fire for the name of his Mexican restaurant chain, this time in Tucson, Arizona, where activist students are protesting the opening of his newest “Illegal Pete’s” Mexican restaurant.
Students from the University of Arizona’s Hispanic student organization, M.E.Ch.A., have sent a letter to Mr. Turner, the owner of the “Illegal Pete’s” restaurants, demanding that he change the name of his chain to suit them because, they say, the restaurant name is an “ethnic slur.”
According to the Arizona Daily Star, the group’s letter says, “We are not like other communities where your business exists, and we are more than willing to show you that. We are here to tell you that no longer will you be able to claim blissful ignorance and profit from racism.”
The restaurant owner has had this discussion before in several communities since he started his chain in 1995 in Colorado, where he already has seven locations.
Turner notes that he meant the name of his stores to be “mysterious” and “playful” and as an homage to his father (whose name was also Pete). But he also said that he never had a problem with the name of his eatery until recently.
“Words change in meaning,” Turner told the paper. “That word in particular is not a bad word. And who knows if it changes. Hopefully there will be some (immigration) reform in the next five years and things will change back.”
The student group goes on to claim that the name is a “racial slur” and that they won’t stand for it.
The group says the restaurant name is an “aggression towards brown persons in a series that spans five hundred years; and the use of ‘illegal’ to stigmatize Mexicans, Central Americans, Mexican-Americans, Latina/os, Chicana/os, and other brown persons is just another aggression that continually dehumanizes these communities. Your restaurant, and even more its name, completely disregards this slur and uses it as a tool to normalize the racism that is inherent within the term.”
The group further claims that since Turner is calling his outlets a “Mission-style Mexican restaurant,” then he is “offending” a “large portion” of the community and appropriating “its culture for the sole purpose of making money.”
But the activist student organization also had a threat for Turner in its letter.
“We are here to tell you that you will no longer be able to continue under this hateful name,” the letter warns. “This letter is only the beginning.”
M.E.Ch.A. is a well-known Marxist, anti-American hate group that pushes the idea of the superiority of the “Mexican Race,” has stated goals to “reclaim” the United States for Mexico, has featured events centered on the slogan “Europeans go home,” and seeks to eliminate U.S. immigration policy to allow illegals to gain automatic citizenship.
h/t: Fox News Latino
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