Taqueria Del Barrio, an LGBTQ-friendly taco shop that hosts a drag brunch, is receiving protection from the police after receiving 30+ homophobic calls a day threatening to burn the restaurant down and kill staffers.
Washington City Paper obtained audio of one call: “Check out the Loyal White Knights or punch in KKK into your search engine for the Klan’s fight for white supremacy,” a male voice says. Then he goes on to provide dial-in information for some sort of conference call on Monday. Then the caller signs off with, “If you’re white and proud, join the crowd for white power.”
WCP adds: “The Loyal White Knights is one of the largest and most active Klan groups in the U.S. They’re known for participating in rallies and distributing racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, homophobic, and Islamophobic propaganda.”
The Washington Post reports: “[Owner Anna] Bran-Leis said that at first her staff ignored the calls. But as the calls intensified Tuesday, the staff grew more concerned and called police. She said detectives took the numbers and recordings of the calls and posted an officer at the restaurant until it closed Tuesday night. Police confirmed the investigation but would not comment on specific details. A police report says ‘there have been several phone calls from various numbers’ and ‘each time the caller uses aggressive homophobic language.'”
Said Bran-Leis to WCP: “We’d never let something like this change our view of what we do and how we do it and what kind of business I run and who works for me. We’re not going to be bullied by any of this stuff.”