Although everybody has the right to eat out, there have been plenty of recent examples of people being refused service for reasons you could describe as "pretty justified". But these decisions are usually made case-to-case, and that's for good reason; if you're making blanket judgements about who you won't serve, then you might not necessarily be in the right.
Of course, the of idea free speech means that if you say things that people don't like, you can't be surprised if they say things to you back that you don't like. But they can't be surprised if people say things about what they said - oh, screw it. This is getting confusing - let me just tell you about this taco truck owner who got hounded on social media.
This is a vegan taco and coffee truck called Rocky's Road Brew - owned by Rocky Coronado, a self-professed "brown queer person". Now, Coronado and his vegan taco truck has a very specific policy in place; he doesn't serve law enforcement. That includes the Detroit Police Department, Homeland Security, and ICE.
Why does he have this policy? Rocky hasn't spelled it out explicitly, but what we do know is that Coronado very recently had some officers of the law visit his truck, and it did not go well. Coronado posted about the incident on Facebook, and let me warn you - this is probably going to bum you out a little.
"Yesterday, two people came by in a unmarked, black suburban with tinted windows both with bulletproof vests and badges," begins Coronado, who says he told them the truck was closed "to not make a tense situation more so". This did not work.
Minutes later, the two people came back with a third woman "with bulletproof vest and badge", at which point Coronado explained that actually, he didn't serve law enforcement. The woman explained that she was with the Humane Society and that they "probably have the same political ideas", but things quickly went south.
"I was ready to rectify the situation but she quickly became belligerent. She took her phone out and stated taking pictures (wish I woulda done the same). The customers already at the truck were harassed by her and photographed despite NOT having their consent. THATS WHEN I REFUSED HER SERVICE and asked her to leave. [sic]"
According to Coronado, that's when either the woman or her passenger posted pictures she had taken earlier, with a "false account of what happened". Unsurprisingly, they went viral, and Coronado was forced to post about his policy online, as his account was flooded with social media trolls.
"Since then All Lives Matter, 'Patriots', MAGA, & 'Christians' have been slandering, threatening, and harassing the business via Facebook. These people, their code switching, their hate, their ignorance shows me I’m on the right path. These people are the threat to freedom, equality, & peace in America."
Like I said - this might bum you out a little bit. While Coronado was probably justified in feeling uncomfortable serving law enforcement - what, with all the police brutality, unwarranted immigration enforcement and all - but he probably should have expected something like this to happen at any time.
