Waving posters that demanded justice and with a Mexican flag in hand, dozens of community activists and supporters took to the streets of Coronado calling out its high school basketball boy’s team.
“Having a group of Mexican people and you’re throwing tortillas in their faces, that’s pretty racist,” said Andres Rivera, an Orange-Glen parent.
Following a CIF championship game last week, Coronado players and supporters were caught on video throwing tortillas towards the Orange-Glen boys, a largely Latino team.
Coronado High School’s basketball team took the win on Saturday night, but instead of celebrating in good fashion, the team turned their win into what is now being called an act of racism, reports NBC 7’s Melissa Adan.
“What I saw was an act of racism towards Mexicans and I am here to stand up for not just my race but for all the racism that happens in America,” said Jose Luis Perez, San Ysidro High School Student, and supporter. “It’s just not right that it’s happening in our school system, our sports. We need to put an end to it.”
Perez was present at the march because he says he disagrees with how the district is handling the incident.
“High school is supposed to be the period when you prepare yourself for college, so it’s better to hold them accountable now than have them pursue this again in the future,” said Perez.
A former Coronado high student, who is Latino, has admitted to bringing the tortillas, saying he was trying to revive a tortilla-tossing tradition he learned while attending UC Santa Barbara.
Coronado’s basketball head coach was fired following last week’s game but no announcement has been made about whether the students involved would suffer any consequences.
Community activists and others have called for Coronado to forfeit the game but the district has announced they don’t plan to do so.
In a letter sent to CIF, Coronado Unified School District Superintendent Karl Mueller states.
“The young men on the court played hard, fairly, and earned the championship win.”
“Coronado Unified saying they don’t want to forfeit the game that’s an endorsement to let an incident like this occur again,” said Perez. “If there’s no punishment why not do it again, do it again next year.”
CIF is expected to announce its decision later this week.
For now, Orange-Glen parents and supporters say they will continue to make their voices heard as they fight for a better environment for their students.