Half-Mexican Man Who Brought Tortillas To Basketball Game Had No ‘Racial Intent’

A Coronado resident has apologized for taking the tortillas that were tossed over the weekend at a basketball game at Coronado High. The incident was considered to be racist by many.

Luke Serna told FOX 5 that he wrote the unsigned letter to the Coronado Unified Governing Board in which he said that there was “absolutely no racial intent” in throwing the tortillas in the air at the end of the game against Orange Glen High School, which is made up of predominantly Latino students.

He said that he took them to mimic a tradition done at several sporting events at UC Santa Barbara, which he attended from 1999 to 2004. Following the Saturday incident, the Coronado Unified School Board voted unanimously to fire their head basketball coach JD Laaperi on Tuesday, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“There was not a shred of ill-intent or racial animus in carrying out this celebratory action,” Serna wrote in the letter.

“Those who have enflamed this issue into a racially charged issue should be utterly ASHAMED of themselves. The people who have fallen for this frame-up to smear Coach Laaperi are not worthy of being any part of the discussion regarding this event as it is their intent to try and fan the flames of racism where none existed.”

Serna also shared that he is half-Mexican. “I brought the tortillas to the game and provided them to players and cheerleaders to toss out onto the floor of the gym in celebration IF, and they certainly did, win the Regional Championship Game," he wrote.

“I realize the tortilla throwing has been perceived as racially insensitive. I do not condone racially insensitive behavior, and that was not my intent. I apologize to all who were hurt by this and hope it can be a teaching moment for us all to become more conscious.”

The incident did not go down well with Orange Glen players and coaches as well as activists and school district leaders from Coronado Unified and the Escondido Union High School District.

Lizardo Reynoso, an assistant basketball coach at Orange Glen, said that the team was “very offended and very hurt.” The Coronado school board issued an apology to the Orange Glen school community.

Coronado basketball captain Wayne McKinney said, “The tortillas were brought by someone not associated by the team. However, the throwing of the tortillas after the game was unsportsmanlike and inexcusable and on that behalf of the team, we apologize for that action.”