Flag displays by protesters triggered backlash that passed Proposition 187.

Evidence

A couple punks, skinny kids with dirty clothes and much darker skin, scampered over to tell them that this was not quite right. They launched into a friendly explanation, the kind that is meant to let the new arrivals know how things worked around here. They had the energy of the nice guys in the mosh pit, who tell the obvious newcomers how to have fun and stay safe (elbows down, don’t push smaller people around, pick up anyone that falls). “Empty nationalism at a protest is dangerous,” one of the punks said. “We have to focus on concrete political objectives.” They explained, very patiently, that some protesters might see the Brazilian flag as a conservative symbol or tantamount to fascism, since in the context of a demonstration (rather than a football game), it was wrong to insist that everyone in the country agrees on everything. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 408 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Removing a sanctuary flag provokes anger that reveals its power meaning. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 181; Racialized equality imagery intensified after California’s Proposition 209 — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1848; Reagan’s states’ rights rhetoric signaled racial backlash — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 286 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Seasoned demonstrators taught newcomers that national flags signal conservative politics in protests #complicates (0.73) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 408