SAN ANTONIO – A local school district is apologizing after an apparent incident of racism at a boys high school basketball game this past weekend.
When the final whistle blew Saturday, Alamo Heights celebrated a convincing victory over San Antonio Edison.
Alamo Heights Head Coach Andrew Brewer said he was proud of his team.
“Tremendously proud,” Brewer said. “Tremendously. It’s the best group of kids.”
But it was just after the trophy presentation when the coach was not proud of the chant coming from Alamo Heights fans.
“USA, USA, USA,” they chanted.
San Antonio Independent School District officials took the chant as a racial insult to a school with all minority players from a school with mostly white ones.
On the KSAT 12 Defenders Facebook page, Santos Villarreal’s post reads “this has to stop.”
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When Fox News inquired about the incident, an Alamo Heights School District official responded with this statement...
If this chant was commonplace – chanted at their games with other schools -- it would not be a problem. It was targeted at a school that is predominantly Hispanic. We appreciate that the Alamo Heights High School basketball coach reacted very quickly to stop the students from chanting.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have had this experience. A similar incident occurred last year with one of our schools and another school district where they chanted “USA USA” and “Arizona Arizona,” around the time that there was heated discussion about the immigration law in that state.
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Edison’s team is predominantly Hispanic, said Leslie Price, a spokesperson for the San Antonio ISD.
“The implication as they are not American citizens,” Price told Fox News. “We understand competiveness and rivalry, but you need to choose your words and think about the meaning behind them.”
Price said she believes the “USA, USA” chant was racially motivated.
“It was chanted selectively at a school that is predominantly Hispanic and there was understanding of that,” she said.
Price said the school district was bombarded with a number of people who found the “USA, USA” chant to be “very disrespectful.”
“That might be chanted at international soccer games,” she said. “But this is not a chant that these students chant at all of their basketball games. It was selective.”
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