Last Friday, Milpitas had its first ever Mexican Independence Day Flag Raising at the Cesar Chavez Plaza.
The event was sponsored by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and coordinated by Milpitas Vice Mayor Carmen Montano, Planning Commissioner Sonia Medina-Ashby, and Milpitas Chamber of Commerce Board Director Juliette Gomez.
The event featured guest speaker Rigo Chacon, who was the Bay Area’s first Hispanic TV reporter. He is a three-time Emmy Award-winner and a retired KGO South Bay Bureau Chief. When he got up to address the crowd, Chacon announced that he had attended Samuel Ayer High School – the very first high school in Milpitas. Upon hearing this, the crowd applauded.
“As we pause to celebrate on this 16th of September, we need to remember that it was only 34 years after July 4, 1776 that that happened in Mexico,” said Chacon to the audience.
At Tuesday night’s Council Meeting, Vice Mayor Montano thanked the community for being there and helping to make the event a success.
Councilmember Karina Dominguez spoke after Montano, and voiced criticism over how the flag-raising went: “We didn’t raise the Mexican flag appropriately, and we also did not sing or play the anthem for that country,” said Dominguez.
Dominguez was referring to how both the American flag and the Mexican Flag had been accidentally raised at the same time, while Montano was singing the U.S. National Anthem.
Vice Mayor Montano responded to Dominguez’s criticisms by saying that things weren’t perfect, but that they learned a lot to make the event even better next year…
“You’ve got to look at the positive,” said Montano. “The positive is it was the first flag-raising ceremony of raising the Mexican flag. And we have to look at the joy and the community spirit that it brought to the community.”
Dominguez and Montano are running against one another for Mayor of Milpitas on this November’s ballot; their fellow Councilmember Anthony Phan is also in the race, along with retired geologist Voltaire Montemayor, Real Estate Agent/Mobile Home Expert Franco Perez, and Entrepreneur Ola Hassan.
Performances by the Randall Elementary School Folkloric Dancers and the Calpulli Tonalehqueh Aztec Dancers Danza Azteca wowed the big crowd in attendance. Live music was provided by Mariachi Estelar. Juliette Gomez also read a poem that she wrote, entitled “I am a Mexican American.”
Said Vice Mayor Montano in an interview with The Beat, “My proudest moment was when the Randall Elementary School Folklorico students performed. It was truly in community spirit.”
Last month, the City of Milpitas held a historic 75th Anniversary Indian Independence Day Flag-Raising. And next month, on October 1, Milpitas will host a Filipino Flag-Raising.
Im sorry but i dont understand why in america we promote unification but celebrate division. Last time i checked we are in the united states of america and no matter one ethnicity we are all americans. It just seems like we are being made to believe that having pride for the country that has giving so much opportunity and standard of living that everyone dreams to one day come to wrong. Yet to celebrate one’s pride of a different country is good? I just do not understand why this is so. Only in America does a government celebrate another countries independence or raise their flag over its own. It disgusts me that we are losing our country and people don’t even recognize it. Trust me if they lived anywhere other than the US they would not have the quality of life they enjoy here.
Martin, yes, what you say has much meaning. I don’t usually care for analogies, but in this case it is far too ripe for extreme ridicule. How would it go over if a few 100 thousand Americans went to Mexico City on the American Independence Day, the 4th of July and carried the flag of the U.S.A, flew it and displayed it in 1000’s of vehicles, on businesses everywhere? I know, I reckon you do too. It’d be all kinds of wrong, just like celebrating a purely foreign holiday is here in the U.S.A
I agree with you totally Martin
I think it is really sad when any celebration like this is marred by a political campaign. Not everyone knows the proper way to raise multiple flags and while both in the Scouts and in the military, even though we trained people, their nerves got the better of them, and the procedure was done wrong. Once, in the Army, the soldier actually lowered the state flag to 1/4 height because he “knew” it had to be lower than the American flag. Shameful that Karina would take what was supposed to be a celebration and turn it political. She should have quietly educated the people raising the flag so they knew better next time. The organizers have my support on this one.