The New York Racing Association has refused to do business at Saratoga Race Course with a food truck disgracefully named the Wandering Dago ("Truck's name leaves bad taste," July 21). The state Office of General Services, which oversees the Empire State Plaza and vendors doing business there, also has refused to use them. Kudos to both agencies.
While I suppose that everyone has a First Amendment right to use an ethnic or racial slur in one's business, the state is hardly obligated to do business with them. I would hope and expect that NYRA and OGS also would refuse to do business with any other vendor incorporating racial or ethnic slurs in their names.
The Times Union's sympathetic article also reported that the vendor insists the term "dago" is "perfect," not "offensive in any way," and somehow honors their Italian heritage. This, of course, is nonsense.
Aside from our own sad personal experience, a quick check of any dictionary confirms that the term is universally considered a derogatory and insulting slur mainly against Italians but sometimes against Portuguese and Spaniards. The origins of this loathsome slur, also according to the dictionary, come from a corruption of the Spanish name "Diego." The Times Union, which presumably has access to a dictionary or at least the Internet, would have done well to check the facts and include that definition in its report, rather than only presenting the vendor's defense of an ethnic slur.
ROBERT E. RUGGERI
Niskayuna