At a White House event earlier this month, the president and chief executive of Goya Foods, Bob Unanue, said that Americans were “truly blessed” to have Donald Trump as president. Republicans were thrilled. Donald and Ivanka Trump, unbothered by ethical guidelines, wasted no time returning Unanue’s favor by posting photos on social media of the company’s products. Republicans were also thrilled by the hostile reaction to Unanue’s remarks, which they see as political hay to argue that progressives are out of touch with the American Hispanic community.
It’s a sequence of events that’s bizarre yet strangely predictable. As a brand, Goya is synonymous with the Spanish-speaking world. It would only be a slight exaggeration to say that for Latinx people in America like myself, cooking with Goya’s vast array of foods and spices is a way of life. It’s therefore an extremely useful brand for Trump to have aligned with his administration as he seeks re-election – and another front he can open in the culture war he prefers to stoke in lieu of governing.
For Trump and Republicans, Goya’s support is a massive, $1.5bn political prop that Trump can use to argue that he has Latin Americans on his side and that he supports them in turn. (All the while ignoring the fact that the Unanue family is, in fact, from Spain.) In this regard, Unanue is no different than Kanye West, Candace Owens or Diamond and Silk – a public relations opportunity to refute the idea that Trump’s administration is only interested in helping wealthy, conservative white people. Suddenly, buying Goya is another way you can communicate that you support a president who supposedly supports all people, and another way you can accuse anyone engaging in a boycott of being an out-of-control liberal.
In some ways it’s amusing knowing that a non-white or Hispanic with a modicum of wealth or influence who is willing to give lip-service to conservatives can so easily influence them. I imagine that, with a little less integrity and a well-chosen target, someone like me could triple their follower count and perhaps score a TV appearance by singing modern conservatives’ favorite tunes: about dangerous undocumented immigrants, the sanctity of statues or the chaos reigning in America’s cities. In most ways, though, this is horribly bleak: when our political discourse is this easily swayed, it does not bode well for meaningful change.
The current rush on Goya products is, increasingly, the only sort of political action that the American conservative apparatus is interested in. It is a politics of exhaustion: instead of advocating for any real policy, officials engage in theater. This is the latest in a series of childish taunts designed to elicit an emotional response that can then be mocked. To those looking to trigger me with their carts and cupboards full of Goya products: I’m not sure what you want me to say? Happy eating – just make sure you make your own recaíto, because store-bought recaíto is trash.
But I have a feeling my culinary advice would just go to waste, because in order to make, say, a truly good guisado, you have to listen to someone who knows how to make one. And to listen you have to care, which those in power demonstrably do not. No one really does. Power is not really interested in elevating the marginalized, because power has been explicitly gained through their marginalization.
This isn’t just about conservatives and Goya, it’s also about the reckoning in US media as it deals with a history of racism and inequity, continually reinforcing a wealthy white American perspective. It’s about representation in Hollywood. It’s about corporate diversity initiatives of every stripe. Any effort to elevate perspectives of color without giving actual people of color power is about as effective and meaningful as Trump stacking beans on the Resolute Desk. The dynamic is always transactional, and it is always a buyer’s market.
The Goya episode would be degrading at any time, but especially so during a pandemic that his killed over 130,000 Americans and is twice as deadly for Black and Latinx Americans due to racial and economic inequality that has plagued the nation longer than any virus has. No one is going to help us; we are not worth Goya’s $1.5bn. It’s as clear as it’s always been: we have to find a way to save ourselves in spite of a government that actively gets in the way.
Figure out how to season those beans on your own.
Joshua Rivera is a writer and critic whose work has been featured in New York magazine, GQ, Entertainment Weekly and the Verge
