Last month in Southern California, Coronado High School's mostly white basketball team beat Orange Glen High School's mostly Latino team in a regional championship. After the game, there were confrontations on the court during which Coronado players and fans threw tortillas at the Orange Glen High School players. Since then, the the Coronado Unified School District Board fired the coach.
NBC 7 reported that the adult who brought the tortillas, Luke Serna, claims that, "the tossing of tortillas is used as a celebratory action by the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at various sporting events including basketball and soccer" and that "there was absolutely no racial intent behind that action."
Yesterday, the California Interscholastic Federation which investigated the incident announced in a news release that Coronado High School has been stripped of its championship title and received additional sanctions including putting players on probation for three years. From CNN:
The team and its athletic staff are also required to complete a sportsmanship workshop, which includes training on racial and cultural sensitivity.
"In this instance, there is no doubt the act of throwing tortillas at a predominately Latino team is unacceptable and warrants sanctions," the release states. "The path towards real change comes with the development of empathy for those who are on the receiving end of this type of degrading and demeaning behavior, no matter the proffered intent of that behavior."
