Anyone looking at images of the Los Angeles immigration protests has almost certainly seen the Mexican flag flying somewhere in the frame.
Demonstrators have hoisted the red, white and green banner atop cars and while marching down streets and freeways. It’s spilled into the corners of CNN live shots and been splashed across social media.
To some, the flag — its bright colors standing out against dark smoke from burning cars and tear gas — is a powerful sign of resistance to President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation agenda. To others, it is ammunition for conservatives aiming to paint the unrest as a “migrant invasion.”
Case in point: a National Review headline calling the Mexican flag the “Confederate banner of the L.A. riots.”
Protesters’ prominent use of the flag evokes photos from more than 30 years ago, when thousands of demonstrators raised the same banner while fighting a ballot measure that sought to bar undocumented Californians from accessing public schools and other services.
That 1994 initiative, Proposition 187, was a turning point for Latino political power in the state. It served as an awakening for some California protesters who later became prominent leaders, including former Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León.
Angelica Salas, a prominent activist in the state and executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, noted protesters also hoisted the flag in 2006, during massive demonstrations against George W. Bush-era legislation to crack down on illegal immigration.
“When you attack the undocumented community, when you attack the immigrant community, there is a sense that — I mean, it’s a reality — the majority of the folks are Mexican,” she said.
Salas spoke with California Playbook about why the Mexican flag continues to be an important symbol for demonstrators.
On what the Mexican flag means to protesters …
It’s really about saying we’re American, Mexican American, and we’re not ashamed of being Mexican …There’s a very popular refrain amongst our community that you can’t just like our food and our culture — we also demand that you like the people.
Because it’s sort of a very, very strong sentiment that there’s a like for what we produce and [for] our culture and our foods and everything else, but not of the people. So there’s a sense of the deep level of discrimination against the Mexican people.
So when people carry the flag, it’s really a symbol of pride and a symbol of ‘We’re not going to be ashamed to claim our heritage, our Mexican heritage. We’re not going to be bullied to hide an aspect of who we are.’
On young protesters’ attachment to the flag …
When you see a lot of young people with their flags, it’s also claiming and [showing] support for their parents. So many of the young people who are marching are U.S. citizens, they’re second-, third-generation, maybe they are the first who were born in this country. Very much U.S. citizens by birth, but they want their parents to also know that they’re standing with them.
I feel like every time I ask a young person — whether they’re carrying a Mexican flag, a Salvadoran flag, a Guatemalan flag, or any other flag — it’s just about, ‘I want people to understand I’m proud of who I am. I’m not ashamed to be Mexican, and I’m certainly not ashamed of my parents. And I want them to know that I will not reject them.’ Because there’s a lot of pressure to reject the Mexican heritage.
On California’s connection to Mexico …
Thirty percent of the population is people of Mexican descent — 12 million individuals who live here. We are proudly a multigenerational community. That means that we have recent arrivals as well as people who are immigrants who’ve been here for many years.
And then [the] majority of the people actually are second-, third-, fourth-generation Mexican American. There’s a lot of pride in our deep roots in the region.