The customer at Suncoast Organic Farm Bakery off Southside Road in Hollister flagged down Baker Lisa Jensen and told her she had ruined his breakfast.
The culprit, he explained, was a Confederate flag visible from the patio of the restored barn where Jensen serves food. But the large red flag with diagonal blue lines and white stars is not Jensen’s banner.
“In the past, people have seen the flag, even though it’s small, and people ask us, ‘Is that your flag?’ And I say, ‘No, it’s not,’” she said.
The property with Jensen’s bakery is about 27 acres. Her neighbor, located across Tres Pinos Creek, owns about 20 acres.
“It’s where our properties meet,” Jensen said.
Since the red, white and blue banner is located at the edge of her neighbor’s backyard, it is more visible from her bakery than from the front of the flag owner’s house.
“Nobody that drives by his house would ever be able to see it,” she said. “Only we can see it.”
In California, flying a Confederate flag on private property is legal and considered an act of free speech, but the state can’t sell or display the banner or other objects marked with the image. The flag is still allowed to appear in school textbooks and public museums. The law mandating these changes took effect in January.
“It sounds like they’re upsetting the public, but it’s all on their property,” said Margaret Russell, a professor of law specializing in constitutional law at Santa Clara University.
The first amendment applies to government regulation of property, Russell explained. It is a pretty long-standing principle that freedom of speech and expression on private land is up to the property owner and authorized users, she said.
Things can get more complicated if the person flying the flag doesn’t own the property the banner is displayed on, or doesn’t have the owner’s permission, the professor explained.
Russell called the flag “definitely upsetting,” but added it is important to consider the consequences of restricting somebody else’s view.
“The First Amendment principle is, ‘If you’re upset, just avert your eyes,’” the professor said.
The owner of the house where the flag is displayed is Michael Zgragen, according to records from Jennifer Castro, an assessment clerk at the San Benito County’s assessor office. Zgragen did not return phone calls from the Free Lance.
Zgragen replaced the original flag with a larger one last week, Jensen said. The baker estimates the current flag is at least 4 feet by 4 feet “and you can see it like a neon sign,” she said.
The appearance of the giant banner caused the Jensens to put out a sign saying it is not their flag. The announcement was on a chalkboard sign last Thursday. The sign that is coming will feature a painted American flag, Jensen explained.
“I’m not trying to cause a war, but I do think it’s a debate,” she said.
Otherwise, the neighbors are on good terms. Zgragen has borrowed tools from Jensen’s family for his grove of olive trees, she said
During a time when police officers are being shot and there are race wars, Jensen wants people coming from a place of peace and not hate, she explained.
“I just think because of what’s going on in the world that they’re obviously doing it for people that are coming here,” Jensen said. “I feel like you’re not coming here to get offended. You’re coming here to get a cinnamon roll or whatever.”
The Confederate flag was in the nation’s spotlight in July, when it was removed from the South Carolina statehouse, following the June killings of nine African Americans in a Charleston church. Dylann Roof, who is white, faces charges for nine counts of murder and had shared photos of himself online waving Confederate flags and burning a U.S. one, according to media reports.
Descendants of Confederate soldiers, who fought during the nation’s civil war, argue the flag represents history and shows Southern heritage and pride. Others see it as a symbol of racism and hate, especially since it was adopted by white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Still others see it as a symbol of rebellion against authority. To Jensen, the flag represents slavery, she said.
“I think we should just have the American flag and be done with it,” Jensen said. “I’m an American. That’s what I would want to fly.”
Jensen is not sure why Zgragen flies the Confederate flag.
“He just never said why he flies it,” she said. “But to me, fly it in your own front yard.”
