Are We Witnessing a New Nativism in California?

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Kenneth C. Burt

Seeking to enjoy a sunny weekend day, I traveled to Jackson, one of the larger towns in California’s historic Gold County. A region made famous by the influx of miners during 1849 from all over the globe, including Chile and Mexico.

Reading the local paper, the Ledger Dispatch, over lunch at the WOW! Bakery and Café, I was startled to read reporter Jennifer Gee’s July 27 commentary, “Where is the diversity?” It seems she was assigned to write a story on the state’s changing demographics, but found the locals afraid to talk.

“When I approached a prominent businessman, county official and minority group leader about the story, they declined to be interviewed, saying they’ve found when it comes to subjects like diversity, it’s best to stay under the radar.”

This came a couple of days after the Sacramento Bee ran a story on the legislative efforts to better care for a languishing monument dedicated to Latino World War II veterans. That story provoked a number of racially tinged reader reactions.

Add to this the fact that conservative talk radio took credit for killing the federal immigration reform bill with a zest not seen since Pete Wilson and Proposition 187.

Is this the final birth pains of a new California? Or is something else developing?