Tortillas Hurled At Losing SD Basketball Team: 'Unacceptable'

Coronado CA

21 June, 2021

3:01 PM

Description

CORONADO, CA — "Unacceptable and racist" is how a Coronado High School Basketball coach described the behavior of his student-athletes after they hurled tortillas at a losing team on Saturday. Orange Glen High School, part of a predominantly Latino school district, lost to Coronado High School on Saturday night 60-57. Video footage shows the winning team throwing tortillas onto the court at Orange Glen players. "Unfortunately a community member brought tortillas and distributed them which was unacceptable and racist in nature," Coronado High School's head coach JD Laaperi tweeted. "I do not condone this behavior. Coronado High School does not condone this behavior and is already taking appropriate action." The Coronado Unified School District's board has issued an apology to Orange Glen. A meeting will be held Tuesday to address the incident and consider additional actions against student-athletes who participated in the act, according to multiple reports. Axel Rivera, a sophomore player at Orange Glen High School told NBC San Diego that things took a turn for the worst when the team walked over to the Coronado players for the traditional post-game handshake. "It's racist and it was planned," Andres Rivera, father of Orange Glen player, told NBC San Diego. CIF also swiftly condemned the act over the weekend and said it has opened an investigation, NBC San Diego reported. "The CIF prohibits discrimination or any acts that are disrespectful or demeaning toward a member school, student-athlete, or school community...Upon receipt and review of incident reports from both schools, the CIF will determine the appropriate next steps."