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A man told Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to "Go back to Mexico" on his way out of the state capitol.
Villaraigosa was in Sacramento taking on the third rail of California politics and suggesting that Proposition 13 be overhauled. But Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Morain happened to be tagging along with Villaraigosa that day for a profile of the mayor. (h/t LA Observed) Morain chased after the man who hurled the insult and asked him why he did that, since for starters, Villaraigosa is not from Mexico and is a native son of Los Angeles.
"Eh, he is a pissant," the man, who identified himself to Morain as Sacramento resident Davi Rodrigues said. Rodrigues told Morain that his beef with Villaraigosa was that an "illegal alien" had killed the son of his friend in L.A. He blamed the mayor and his supposed Mexicanness: "He is a Mexican. That is what he claims. He is always defending illegal Mexicans and Mexico. … I have no qualms about saying anything to him."
The incident helped Morain make the larger point that Villaraigosa is a kind of anti-bigotry, pro-equality mayor, who has to deal with prejudice on a daily basis. Lately, Villaraigosa has been pushing for the Democratic party to include a pro-same-sex marriage plank in its platform. But it should be pointed out that Morain's profile has been one in a string of mostly-positive, soft-edged profiles of Villaraigosa ever since it was announced that he got a gig chairing the national Democratic convention in Charlotte this September. He's been profiled in Time, the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor—all national outlets. This has led to quite a bit of grumbling among journalists at home wondering what exactly Villaraigosa did on his home turf to deserve all this attention: here, here, here, here, here, and yeah, pretty much everywhere.
