Tortilla-throwing incident was not isolated, San Diego athletes say

Former non-white Coronado athletes say a racist incident where the Coronado High School basketball team threw tortillas at players at an opposing team with more Latino students isn’t a surprise and matches many of their own experiences at the the majority-white and wealthy school.

According to the Voice of San Diego, several former athletes said they don’t feel welcome on campus at their alma mater. They said they support efforts to hold those involved accountable, including implementing racial sensitivity training for administrators and school staff.

“Students were more abrasive towards me as a Black woman,” said Imani Ware, who played soccer at Coronado. “I was different than their Coronado community.”

Back in 2015, Jasmine Goodson, who identifies as a biracial Black and Costa Rican student, wrote an open letter in her school’s newspaper condemning the school’s lack of action around racism that she experienced.

“Being a person of color at a predominately white school, in all aspects, is hard, not just because of discrimination, but because you will automatically feel different,” she wrote. “You will be set to a certain standard of beauty that requires you to ‘tame’ your hair, have a slimmer nose, or thinner lips, all of which I have been teased about.”