East Haven Major, Joseph Maturo, is under fire after he commented that he might eat a taco, in a response to an anti-Latino bias

investigation that is currently underway against the East Haven Police Department. Maturo has now come out and said that he brought the criticism on himself, and that he wants to move on from the comment, but not before his words caught national attention.

Maturo apologized for the comment saying, “My sincerest apologies go out to the East Haven community and, in particular, the Latino community for the insensitive and off-color comment that I made to WPIX reporter Mario Diaz yesterday regarding the recent events affecting our community and our police department.  Unfortunately, I let the stress of the situation get the best of me and inflamed what is already a serious and unfortunate situation.”

While the mayor made a swift apology, it is clear that the community is appalled by his insensitivity to the Latinos in East Haven, and across the globe. There have been various campaigns against the mayor, and some residents of East Haven are even demanding that he resign.

Joe Maturo’s comment that he “brought the criticism on himself” was only two days after the campaign group, Reform Immigrant for America, sent five hundred tacos to the mayor’s office. Their campaign, text the mayor a taco, received over 3,500 text messages, but they decided to deliver five hundred, and donate the rest to fund a community dinner. The group said that they were sending him the tacos as a visual of all those across the country who are outraged by his careless remarks.

Both Governor Daniel Malloy and Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra have made statements about the taco comment, showing their distaste for Maturo’s words. Segarra stated that, “Many have worked diligently to correct the painful history of racism in this country, and Mayor Maturo’s comments are a disappointing example of how far we still have to go to.” Mayor Joe Maturo still stands by his comment that East Haven is not a bias community; however, he stopped short of defending the police.

Especially after Joseph Maturo’s comment, it is hopeful that he will do more in the future to provide support for the Latino community. His actions will show if he is truly sorry for the damage he caused.