You don't call somebody
racist, because you can't undo
it.
WOMAN: [? Jessy! ?] What
the heck?
[INAUDIBLE] tortillas.
MAN 1: Are you kidding me?
WOMAN: Tortillas?
MAN 1: What a racist piece of--
WOMAN: Wow.
Wow.
Racist!
Players on a high school
basketball team were seen
throwing tortillas
at the opposing team, which was
from a mostly Latino school.
Protesters took to the streets
of Coronado, demonstrating
against what they're calling
a racist incident.
It's racist, it's wrong.
REPORTER: The district school
board also weighing in.
"We fully condemned the racism,
classism, and colorism which
fueled the actions
of the perpetrators."
The California Latino caucus
is calling this a hate incident.
And those weren't two
tortillas.
Those were bombs of racism.
This was a racial incident,
no matter how it was cut.
Breaking news-- the Coronado
Unified School Board has just
voted to remove Coronado High
School's head basketball coach.
[CROWD CHANTING]
Coronado High
School's basketball team has
been stripped
of the championship.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm Robert, and this is
my wife, Candie.
And our son, Donnie,
is the Varsity basketball player
at Coronado High School, and his
sister's a cheerleader,
so that's how we got involved
in all of this.
CANDIE COUTS: There was only
seating on one side of the gym
and you could feel a little bit
of tension.
ROBERT COUTS: There were Orange
Glen fans right behind us,
a couple of dads, and they were
particularly obnoxious.
They knew exactly where the weak
spot was and they were going
to use it, and that's fine.
And at the end of the game,
on that fadeaway 3 pointer,
I turned around to do the, we
got you look, and I saw those
two dads looking at each other,
both Orange Glen dads.
They looked at each other like
this and one of them made this
face, like that was great, that
was good.
Now, that was before any of this
melee started.
CANDIE COUTS: When Alex threw
his 3 pointer, we were all
watching Alex.
And then it started to migrate
back towards the benches.
More people from the crowd were
already going onto the court.
ROBERT COUTS: A lot of pointing
fingers.
CANDIE COUTS: Pointing fingers,
yelling.
And then I did see a couple
of tortillas fly.
I just thought, oh, look
they're throwing stuff,
they're celebrating.
It's a 2 minute drive from
the school to here.
We get home and I open up social
media, and it was that fast.
The five to seven second
clip--
I saw white Coronado throws
tortillas at predominantly
Hispanic high school.
And so immediately, I thought,
wow, this does not look good.
MICHAEL GIORGINO:
On Father's Day Sunday, less
than 24 hours after
the basketball game, the school
board held an illegal meeting.
They met in secret.
There was no agenda, there was
no public participation,
nothing.
They voted on a statement--
we fully condemn the racism,
classism, and colourism that
fueled the actions
of the perpetrators.
JENN SETTLE: The community was
attacked as being racist, all
these things.
And I'm thinking, this is
ridiculous.
My hometown was called racist,
colourist, and classist.
And I said, what is classist?
That was a rush to judgment.
That was confessing to a crime
that no one had committed,
no one had investigated, and now
everyone is paying for.
The CIF came down hard
on the Coronado basketball team.
MICHAEL GIORGINO: Not just
the basketball team--
the football team, the baseball
team, the lacrosse team,
the soccer team, the swimming
team.
They're going to have to undergo
re-education training.
Girls lacrosse has to go
through racial-sensitivity
training.
I don't think any kid needs
to go through that, but what
does girls lacrosse have to do
with boys basketball
and a tortilla?
CANDIE COUTS: One person from
CIF came to that conclusion.
ROBERT COUTS: The CIF board did
not vote on that.
I don't think it has anything
to do with reality.
If it had anything to do with
reality, this would have been
done and over, we wouldn't be
talking right now, and the right
person would, in some way, form,
or another, be answering for his
actions.
STACY KESZEI: There was very
little communication between
the board members.
However, the statement did go
out.
And it was a concern that there
was going to be some anger
on the other side.
I'm 100% Mexican-American.
Both my parents are from Mexico,
and I took that really tough.
MAN 2: It shouldn't be something
that should be taken lightly,
or it might be a domino effect
into something more serious,
because they're not going to see
any type of consequences.
The initial video that we got,
was released, was a very limited
video.
And it was a woman yelling.
WOMAN: Racist!
Racist!
STACY KESZEI: I quickly learned
that what took place was not
what actually took place,
and so I requested my name get
removed off of the initial
statement.
We stand by that in a vote
of 4 to 1.
We issued an apology and we will
not retract from that apology.
First, they said, OK,
we're going to look into it.
And then immediately, it was--
this is racist,
we're recommending it be
stripped.
And it was just, who have you
talked to?
To question the fact that
there was a lack of due process.
As an attorney, I know that I
spent hours reviewing
and revising testimonial,
circumstantial, and firsthand
witness accounts.
The players, none of them were
talked to.
They didn't talk to anybody.
They didn't talk to me.
I emailed and called them
and they never returned
my calls.
BERIE GROBE: As the head
of human resources in school
districts, your whole world
revolves around due process.
Teachers from time to time got
accused of, say, sexually
harassing a student or sexually
molesting a student.
Well, the minute that gets said
out loud, it's done.
In this case, you've got kids,
so you have put a dark blot
on these kids.
That is irresponsible.
Just after it happened, I not
only said it was irresponsible,
I actually called it child
abuse.
[? TRANSCRIPT BREAK ?]
I'm Wayne McKinney
and I'm the captain.
It was not based on race
or class.
The tortillas were brought
by someone not associated with
the team.
However, the throwing
of the tortillas during
the scuffle after the game was
unsportsmanlike and inexcusable.
And on behalf of the team,
we apologize for that action.
I'm not sure why his words,
which are so powerful
and obviously a firsthand
account, were kind
of disregarded by the school
district.
It almost seemed as though they
believe that they knew that this
had to be racially motivated.
And so they just stuck to that
narrative.
CANDIE COUTS: --for our daughter
she got past a tortilla.
And she said, what is this.
And the little girl next to her,
the other cheerleader, said,
that man over there passed out
some tortillas and told us that
if we win the game to throw them
in the air as a celebration.
It'll be fun.
He never even been to a game
all year.
I'm sure the cheerleaders
thought it's some creepy middle
aged guy talking to us.
Teenage cheerleaders made up
and in their uniform.
And this middle aged weirdo
comes and--
The Coronado Police Department
interviewed Luke Serna on June
19th after the basketball game.
He is a Latino, he is a Union
Local president, he is
a political activist, and he has
been actively involved with left
wing groups in Coronado.
I don't know.
But it is a little suspicious
with his relationships
to the other groups that
he's the one that actually
brought those tortillas.
ROBERT COUTS: Our school is
wrestling with critical race
theory and we--
interestingly enough, not long
before that basketball game,
we had a school board meeting
that we attended.
We had people speak about not
wanting that.
And then Lo and behold,
there's an incident
that's racially motivated.
And the school board is using
that with the No Place for Hate
campaign.
That's dipping their toe
in the water of CRT,
and we're not for that.
CANDIE COUTS: It's a program
that is designed to create
harmony in the school.
So K through 5, you teach
kindness.
We've always had that--
teaching respect of others.
And then in the high school,
it becomes more of an activist.
No Place For Hate is critical
race theory.
Critical race theory is racist.
On its face and in its deaths,
it is racist.
It teaches kids that
if you're white,
you're an oppressor,
if you're Black,
you're a victim.
Our two kids, they're white
and they're adopted by us,
and I'm Korean.
I'm not telling my kids any kind
of-- or teaching them any kind
of racist--
Right.
--anything.
CANDIE COUTS: Why in the world
would you call some boys that
just won your town
a championship that hasn't had--
yeah--
that hasn't been won in 30
years?
Why would you throw them
to the wolves?
And Luke Serna felt none
of that.
None of that.
And that part just really burns
me up.
I mean, this is kids paying
the price for adult behavior.
I think it's appropriate
to remind you that even
according to Luke Serna,
the actual instigator
of the entire event, has
confirmed that it was not
racially charged.
I'm here to demand that you
remove the words racist,
classist, colourist,
and perpetrators from the board
letter that was issued
to [INAUDIBLE].
If it was your child, would
you want them to live
[INAUDIBLE] incorrect
and tarnished reputation?
I know you wouldn't.
So please, protect our boys
and reinstate the town's trust
in all of you.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
[CHEERING]