Alum brought tortillas thrown at California basketball game. ‘No racial intent’

A California resident who brought the tortillas that were thrown at players after a high school championship game said that he had “no racial intent” in the controversial incident.

Luke Serna told KSWB that he wrote the letter to the Coronado Unified Governing Board, saying there was “absolutely no racial intent” in throwing tortillas after Coronado High School’s boys basketball team defeated Orange Glen High School on Saturday. Serna told the station that he had been trying to revive a tradition from the University of California, Santa Barbara, which he attended from 1999 to 2004, by bringing tortillas to throw at the game.

“There was not a shred of ill-intent or racial animus in carrying out this celebratory action. Those who have (inflamed) this issue into a racially charged issue should be utterly ASHAMED of themselves,” read the letter, which had been sent to the board anonymously.

Saturday’s game, for the CIF Southern California Boys Basketball Division Regional 4-A Championship, went into overtime and was eventually won by Coronado High School, 60-57. Coaches from both schools got into a heated argument, with a video on social media showing at least two Coronado players throwing tortillas, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Coronado head coach JD Laaperi was also accused of cursing at an Orange Glen coach, saying “That’s why you don’t talk (expletive). Get your kids and get the (expletive) out of here,” witnesses said, according to the newspaper.

Serna, who graduated from Coronado High School in 1999 and who is half-Mexican, told The Coronado Times that he brought four bags of tortillas and that the coach knew ahead of time that he would be bringing them for a “celebratory” purpose.

Coronado Unified School District’s board voted Tuesday to fire Laaperi, KGTV reported.

Serna said he distributed the tortillas to the players and cheerleaders and it was “never to be seen as having any racial intent,” The Coronado Times reported. Serna also said he didn’t know about the racial makeup of Orange Glen High School beforehand.

Orange Glen High’s student population is 87% Latino, according to U.S. News & World Report, while Coronado High School’s student population is 59% white.

“Obviously, in hind-sight, everything is 20/20. And knowing that there could be this crazy racial situation afterwards, I probably wouldn’t have done it. I didn’t really think about that until after the fact,” Serna said, according to the publication.

Serna apologized for the incident on his Twitter account, writing: “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.”

Several people spoke out at Tuesday’s meeting before Coronado’s board voted to fire Laaperi.

“This was a racial incident no matter how it was cut,” Yusef Miller, a community activist, told the board, NBC San Diego reported. “I don’t care who stands there and says otherwise. I don’t care if they are Black, white or Latino. I don’t care what race they are. This was wrong and unjust. I don’t care where it comes from.”

The board said three more weeks will be required to investigate the incident, which is also being investigated by the California Interscholastic Federation, the Coronado Police Department and the Escondido Union High School District, according to NBC.

This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 1:09 PM.