a note from someone who lives in the area
from phyranglia
#296
Posted by: Markle Author Profile Page | May 12, 2010 8:07 AM
First, I think everybody except the school district behaved badly here. The tea baggers and right-wing radio worst of all for picking up the wrong battle. (edit: And by the way it turns out nobody was supposed to be wearing any flag shit at all. "American, Mexican or Estonian" according to that reporter.) If it was my kid and he showed up at breakfast wearing a flag shirt on May 5, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. If, however, I found out he planned to hang out with 4 of his friends dressed the same way, I'd tell him to change his shirt and check his bookbag on the way out the door as well.
However, as a lifetime resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, this is actually local news for me. Reading the comments above, I had to laugh out loud at this rending of souls over these poor downtrodden little Mexicans in freaking Morgan freaking Hill. You see Morgan Hill is a bedroom community for those who work in Silicon Valley and can afford to sacrifice a few miles commute for living amongst a bit more greenery. Sandwiched between one of the largest state parks, two of the largest county parks, and three golf/country clubs, Morgan Hill has a median household income of just shy of $100k, median family income is just short of $110K. If you want your kid to go to Live Oak HS, your mortgage banker won't quite have to write a check with two commas, but he will if you want your kid to be able to walk to school. Set aside about $2.5 million for that. You see it's surrounded by one of those country clubs and vineyards. This is a dispute between spoiled rich white punks and spoiled rich slightly-more-melanistic "victims-for-a-day".
There's something else going on amongst the kids because in the wider community, Cinco de Mayo is like St. Patrick's Day. Substitute mexican for irish in the old standby "everybody's irish for a day" and that's what it's like if you go by the park for a picnic or out to a bar. Supermarkets have specials on theme-specific items. Just like you'd expect when most Bay Area communities are anywhere from 25%-55% "hispanic or latino of any race" even in the gentrified areas.(Morgan Hill 28.5%; next door in San Martin, 40%; Gilroy, 54% and $70k mean household) Hell, Redwood City, one of the most expensive places to live in the Bay Area has more residents that hail from one small town outside Morelia, Michoacán than currently live in that small town in Michoacán. You'd be hard-pressed to get more than a mile from a mexicatessen here. And nobody will look at you strangely when you shop there, whatever your ancestry. Supermarkets stock up on masa near Christmas and stock Tamarindo year-round right next to Sprite. Mexican-American culture is part of everybody's Bay Area culture. You could exchange all of that for Asian(Japanese/Chinese/Hmong/Vietnamese/Indian/Pakistani) in many places too. Cupertino, for example is 45% asian(65% in the schools).
Oh yeah, and one of the Morgan Hill 5, Dominic Maciel? He's half hispanic himself. I don't know what's going on there.
