SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Supporters of Orange Glen High School will rally in Coronado Saturday following last weekend's controversial high school basketball game when tortillas were thrown towards a largely Latino team which many are calling a racist act.
A non-profit organization "We Stand United SD" is planning a march against racism at 5 p.m. at Coronado High School called “Racism Has No Place Here."
On Friday, Coronado Unified School District Superintendent Karl Mueller said that after reviewing audio and video accounts, no evidence has turned up requiring the school to forfeit the game.
In a three-page letter sent to California Interscholastic Federation executive director Ron Nocetti on Friday, Mueller responded to calls by community activists and others for Coronado to forfeit the June 19 game in which Coronado beat Escondido's visiting Orange Glen, 60-57, in overtime.
"In the first-person accounts, audio and video that we have reviewed to date, we have seen no evidence of antagonization by the players actions or behaviors that justify forfeiting the game," Mueller wrote. "The young men on the court played hard, fairly, and earned the championship win ... Numerous statements reference the actions of people representing both schools as contributing to somewhat of a 'powder keg' atmosphere."
Mickey Chew, father to an Orange Glen player, called the finding unacceptable.
"In my opinion, it was very tone deaf. I saw it all very clearly that night, and it was very one-sided. I do think the CIF championship should be vacated. They acted in unsportsmanlike ways according to their own principal and team captain. The video says it all," said Chew.
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- Coronado Unified School District votes to oust head basketball coach following tortilla-throwing incident
- Tortillas hurled at Orange Glen basketball team after game against Coronado High
- San Diego NAACP calls on CIF to ban two Coronado High players, parents involved in tortilla-throwing incident
- Coronado Unified School District holding emergency meeting over tortilla incident
The Coronado's School District Board of Education held an emergency meeting Tuesday night to address the incident, when the board voted to terminate head basketball coach J.D. Laaperi.
On Wednesday, Coronado alumnus Luke Serna told ABC 10News, he brought the tortillas to the game and denied that the act had a racist component. He said he was evoking a tradition at UC Santa Barbara, which he also attended.
San Diego County's Human Relations Commission will hold a special meeting on Monday in response to the tortilla-throwing incident. The 27-member commission is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. via Zoom.
