Here’s a way not to respond to charges that police officers in your town harassed, abused and brought false charges against Latino residents: by telling a reporter that you might eat tacos to help Latinos out.
Asked this week by WPIX reporter Mario Diaz what he would do for the Latino community, East Haven, Connecticut Mayor Joseph Maturo said he “might have tacos when I go home.”
Four officers in the town were charged by the Justice Department this week with conspiring to violate and violating the civil rights of Latino residents of the city. One officer allegedly said he “likes” harassing people who “have drifted into this county on rafts made of chicken wings.”
Maturo has subsequently apologized for his “insensitive and stupid answer.”
The full video is must a must watch:
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
Mario Diaz, you rock sir. I hope this interview greatly helps your career.
Maturo speaks like Cindy Brady.
What a dick.
Not only are people like him just plain ignorant - they're so self-righteous in their ignorance.
As a Connecticut resident, this guy gave our state ANOTHER black eye. This kind of BS doesn't fly here.
how do these guys get elected?
hahahahaha hes the man!
Evano Corleone How so?
What irritates me most is his comment of how they allow Latinos to walk the streets like any other ordinary citizen.
Where does these types of ignorant hatred breed....in outhouses...?
What a bright articulate man!
No seriously The East Haven residents I know are pretty angry. He's toast.
The only proper response to something this stupid, is for every person of color within 50 miles of East Haven to toss tacos on the mayor's lawn. Of course, in East Haven, where the police are both trigger happy and racist, a "taco" might be considered a "lethal weapon."
It may take some take some time, but the only DIRECTION that racism (whether you are White, Black, Brown, Yellow or in-between) assures any person who dwells in it is DOWNWARDS.
This guy (not surprisingly) represents a deep-seated ignorance and insensitivity of PEOPLE who have absolutely no real life experiences as Minorities making their "Living room/Bed room/Kitchen-table talks" PUBLIC.
Says a lot about the American society in 2012, especially, White Republicans.
BTW, did you notice the American Flag on his suit lapel?......Lapel pin/Shallow Patriotism
I just can't believe this right now. It just seems too much like a parody.
"What are you going to do for the black community".....
"Well I might go to popeye's tonight"
It just seems too terrible, I am going to wait a few days and see if this is real.
remember793 Don't wait too long 793....IT IS REAL!!! These people need EXORCISM to expunge that Spirit of Racism in them (i.e, the average Racist, especially Republican)
Too bad.....very unproductive mindset which has terminated the careers of a lot of them; but they will NEVER learn (that Racism Does Not Pay)
"We are...uh...making sure that the latinos in our community can move about just like everyone else in our community."
wow, thats might white of you mayor
He knows he said something wrong but he doesn't know what. Pandering, overly-literal and clueless at the same time. He doesn't think of himself as a bigot and the base he's appealing to -- slowly dying off -- doesn't get what the fuss is about. Even at the local level it's amazing and grim he can get elected these days.
Politicians done lost their minds in the last 3 years. An Italian American(assuming from his name) should have empathy for ethnic groups that are discriminated against.
Napster Sorry Napster. The mayor believes "he has arrived"........it is NOW his turn to discriminate.
Just like Pat Buchanan (who is Irish-American); forgetting that before the Kennedy family (Pres. J. F Kennedy) BROKE THE YOKE, the common meme was "You are Irish., You need Not Apply". How times have changed.
Napster I might have some spaghetti and meat balls!
It pains me to watch somebody so ignorant.
Quote from the President of the United States, "You don't want to get between Michelle and a tamale"!
This blog is making me hungry.
Wait until the GOP leadership catches this tape -- I predict a new GOP presidential front runner!
It doesn't help that this guy is a Republican disability scammer
Buck Turgidson Jr Republican disability scammer? I always knew being a R was a disability, but you mean it's officially recognized now?
And I'm reading now that his apology was a Sarah Palinesque apology no less: claiming that his detractors have found their "gotcha" moment by quoting this idiot verbatim..smh
um..uh...ah shyte, never mind...
Dear Mayor Maturo,
Thank you for proving the point I have been trying to make on this site for some time now, and that is that idiotic, bigoted buffoonery is not confined to the southern U.S.
(Geez, man; how hard is it to say, "We take these allegations very seriously, and are taking steps to investigate the matter and depending on what that investigation uncovers, we will take appropriate action to be sure that no member of our community is subjected to discriminatory treatment by our police because of their ethnicity."
Oh my. Some people just can see it. They haven't figuratively or otherwise walked in another's moccasins. I find it frightening somehow.
I sent a text to send the mayor a taco. Hope he likes it. (or chokes)
"Waiter, bring me a glass of water! I bit into a jalapeno and my mouth is on fire!"
"That was a plantain, sir."
"Wait a second, I didn't say it was a priority to have tacos!" Is this a SNL sketch?
Reporter: "Mayor what are you doing for the Gay community today"
Mayor: "I'm gunna go home and rape a neighborhood boy and then try to marry my dog and then go eat some foot long hotdogs. Now you media types can twist and spin that any way you want..."
This man is developmentally challenged.
RickParris All the developmentally challenged people I know have the edge on this guy in intelligence, wit, and decency. Seriously.
He said: "It doesn't matter whether you're Italian, Irish, or Polish." IMHO those ethnic backgrounds are all white.
wow.... this guy actually won an election? What schmuck was he running against?
Great reporter though, way to go guy! Don't let a bigot spout prejudicial and insulting comments without being challenged. CNN could learn A LOT from this guy!
andrewrbussiere
ditto great reporter...didn't hype it up, didn't let go, just let the man hang himself with his own words
This felt a lot like watching The Office, but real... just... wow.
He spent 2 years in PR watching the Latinus Boricuas in its primal and feral state studying them like the Crocadile Hunter. Upon his return to the Mainland he saw that the species has invaded his hometown and his daughter wanted one as a pet.To his surprise these beasts were acting like human beings. He thought to himself maybe if my "animal wranglers" can catch some and take them back to their feral ways they will act violent and I'll look like a genius for pointing this out. So he did what he said and when confronted by the media he himself turned into Highfunctionus Retardus... sorry for the messed up grammar but whatever guess I'll just go and eat some Puerto Rican tacos lol
Maybe in his own way he was giving props to his housekeeper, his gardner, his remodeling crew
DUMB ASS!!!
but maybe it was Taco night at his house?
NerdRage "Do you have to wear that sombrero in bed every night? You know I like the hood better."
"I'm the mayor of East Haven. For Pete's sake, I can't be eating tacos!"
I want this mayor to enter presidential race and this reporter to host all remaining debates instead of Fox's clowns or CNN's punching bags. Without Cain and Perry its getting too boring.
Remember: When you've just said something stupid in a public forum, the best way to recover is to just keep saying whatever comes into your head for as long as it takes until the problem goes away.
My question is....how did this town elect someone so DUMB! Electing someone of this caliber is a comment on the citizens.
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