Opinion: Conservatives can learn from the tortilla-throwing incident at Coronado HS

Valdés Clayton is an immigration attorney and a Republican, and lives in Coronado.

Gov. Gavin Newsom survived his recall election this month in part by winning a majority of the Latino vote, which is nearly a third of the state electorate. Despite overtures by Republicans, those of us who are both Latino and conservative understood the results: Latinos will not support conservatives as long as we fight about whether Latinos deserve respect or an apology for racist actions, such as hurling tortillas at Latino students.

On June 19, following a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoff game in Coronado, tortillas were hurled at the visiting team from Orange Glen High School in Escondido. The racial implications of this action was not lost on our visitors, 87 percent of whom are Latino, and 84 percent economically disadvantaged. The Orange Glen students were playing in Coronado, which is 87 percent White and upper-middle class. The Orange Glen team had already endured racial taunts and insults based on their economic status, at other games. When tortillas were thrown at Orange Glen students, their reaction was the reaction of Latinos everywhere, including myself: It was racist, demeaning and deserved an apology.

As a school board trustee for Coronado Unified School District, and as the daughter of Mexican immigrants, I was outraged. Within 24 hours, all five school board members signed an apology, denouncing the actions as “racism, classism and colorism.” The Orange Glen community understood that we were sincere in denouncing the action for what it was: a smear against Latino students on account of their race, economic class and skin tone.

There was no rush to judgment in the issuance of our apology to Orange Glen. As an attorney, I reviewed eyewitness accounts, and applied the legal standard used on racial claims: The harm is defined by the injured party, and not the perpetrator. I reviewed CIF codes, the educational code on civility and laws on racial discrimination. Contrary to “Rush to judgment: An autopsy of a racial power grab in Coronado,” an opinion piece published this month by Eli Steele on foxnews.com, the board never called students racist, nor did the board rely upon just one video. That one trustee recanted her apology was not “moral fortitude” but political cowardice. An apology to Latinos was not a “power grab.” It was the right thing to do.

I met with Latino students and administrators from both Coronado and Orange Glen. The students considered the actions as racist.

However, none of the Orange Glen students wanted retaliation. They wanted to be heard. To be valued. Respected. The apology did that, and restored their dignity. They were grateful we addressed colorism, which is discrimination faced by darker-skinned Mexicans from lighter-skinned, affluent Mexicans. Colorism is a reality, as evidenced by the fact that perpetrator Luke Serna, the man who brought tortillas to the game and gave them to Coronado students, is of Latino descent.

Even so, some sought to defend “tortilla tossing” as a celebratory tradition, repeating Mr. Serna’s excuse. Coronado has never had such a tradition. Again, the perpetrator does not define the harm, the victim does. When this excuse failed to gather public support, proponents of the “power grab” theory tried to tie “tortilla tossing” in as a conspiracy to implement critical race theory. Coronado has not adopted critical race theory, and will not. The next defense was to portray it as merely “unsportsmanlike,” as stated by Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey.

Each of these defenses has been widely refuted. When CIF investigated the incident, its officials stated “there is no doubt the act of throwing tortillas at a predominantly Latino team is unacceptable and warrants sanctions,” and stripped Coronado of its regional championship title. What is clearly “unsportsmanlike” is a refusal to apologize on the basis of these findings.

On Aug. 20, the Coronado school board revised the original apology on a 3-2 vote, without acknowledging the actions as racist. In many ways, the hostility from those opposed to issuing an apology was worse than the action itself. The refusal to acknowledge racism has exposed a division within Coronado, and between conservatives and Latinos.

As conservatives, we applaud Latinos for being hardworking and family-oriented, and seek their votes. But when it comes to defending our dignity, we’re withheld a meaningful apology.

Apologizing to Latinos for racial incidents was not a “rush to judgment,” nor a “power play.” As conservatives, we should address racism without defending it. If we continue to excuse racism as pranks or conspiracies to implement critical race theory, we will lose inroads with Latino voters.

The recall results demonstrate that Latinos are wary of Republicans, and that the “racist Republican” tag is effective. As long we keep defending racism, we will lose the Latino vote.