The tension between the police and the Black Lives Matter movement is currently more intense than the line outside of a Chick-fil-A on opening day, but that isn’t stopping one location of the chain in Texas from taking a stance. According to The Blaze, recent photos show staff members at Chick-fil-A in Conroe, Texas sporting t-shirts that say “Back the Blue” under the Chick-fil-A logo.
Customers are also apparently sporting t-shirts with the phrase “Go Blue or Go Home” on it. First We Feast called the location where an employee, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that employees at the location were indeed wearing the shirts and have been “for a little while.”
(Photo: Police Officers/Facebook)
Manager Eli Advincula tells the Blaze that the t-shirts have two meanings, “To show support for their local high school football team, whose colors are blue and green, and to support law enforcement officers.” Advincula adds that the restaurant wanted to show “support for Police Lives Matter [because] they are out on our streets everyday,” and that the law enforcement community needs support “because of all that has been happening lately.”
Reactions to the shirts have been relatively positive: A police community page shared an image of an employee wearing a shirt and thanked the restaurant. Chick-fil-A—which is not shy about its intensely conservative Christian “values”—doesn’t exactly have a history of being culturally neutral and accepting: A couple years ago, the chain’s CEO Dan Truett spoke out against gay marriage. First We Feast has reached out to Chick-fil-A’s corporate headquarters for comment on the location’s decision.
It appears that chain restaurants have become the newest battleground in the fight between police and the Black Lives Matter movement. Last month, a Dunkin’ Donuts employee who was serving a cop wrote “#blacklivesmatter” on the officer’s coffee cup. The police union quickly displayed its aggravation and called the move “unacceptable and discouraging.” The cup incident came just a month after an Arby’s employee allegedly denied service to a police officer in uniform simply for being a cop.
[via The Blaze]