Edhat Staff
Video by Joe Bailey / Santa Maria Times
By edhat staff
Righetti High School students started a xenophobic chant during a high school basketball game against St. Joseph on Tuesday.
“Where’s your passport?” was chanted over and over again from students and supporters of Righetti High School. A writer for Santa Maria Times caught the incident on camera towards the end of the game. The two high schools have a long-standing rivalry.
The video also shows administrators from both sides getting into a heated discussion, seemingly about the chant and conduct of their students and fans. The woman in green has been identified as Erinn Dougherty, Principal of St. Joseph, who appears to become emotional at the end of the video.
It has since sparked discussions and accusations of racism and xenophobia. St. Joseph High School has one player from France and three players from Puerto Rico, a United States territory where residents do not need passports.
St. Joseph has been criticized for its recruitment of players. Their basketball coach and Athletic Director, Tom Mott, previously resigned from Mission Prep in San Luis Obispo in 2006 following an investigation into his recruiting of players. Righetti High School and its supporters have pointed to the private school’s recruiting as unfair.
A tweet from February 7 posted by Righetti High School points to the contention as they commend their girl’s basketball team for winning without overseas recruiting. “That’s 4 Championships in the last 5 years… and they don’t have to recruit overseas !!!” the tweet reads.
That’s 4 Championships in the last 5 years… and they don’t have to recruit overseas !!! pic.twitter.com/yB7iKKIbEW
— Righetti Football & Sports (@RighettiFB) February 8, 2020
After backlash online, Righetti students came forward to state students and supporters from St. Joseph were also chanting racist remarks, reports the Santa Maria Times.
“We are aware of the unacceptable comments exchanged from both sides of the basketball court during the heated rivalry between St. Joseph and Righetti High School Tuesday night. The incident is being addressed by SMJUHSD and RHS school officials. We have no further comment at this time, said Kenny Klein, Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Public Information Officer, in a public statement.
“We are disappointed about the way the boys basketball game against Righetti High School ended on Tuesday night. We do not tolerate any type of inappropriate statements made at any student especially if they could be interpreted as disrespectful. We hope that this can be a lesson in sportsmanship and mutual respect for students from both schools,” according to a statement from St. Joseph High School.
The video garnered over a thousand comments on social media with some calling the school racist, others defending the chant, and some stating both sides were at fault.
If the motive behind the chant was frustration at having to compete against top athletes recruited from around the world instead of local students, I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to construe that as racist. However, determining whether something is racist / offensive / unacceptable can be very complicated. For example, in some situations making fun of or even attacking a person or group of people based on their identity is acceptable as illustrated in this recent discussion by a CNN panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1rJBsUchoo However, imagine if these CNN panelists had been mocking the accents and cultural traditions of people from urban inner city areas. It is not so much what they said or did that matters. Rather, it is who they are and who their statements where directed at that determine whether what they did is acceptable. I think it is fascinating that the identities of the persons involved are the determining factor. I have come up with a simple test that I believe can help people accurately determine whether a questionable statement is acceptable or not. Ask yourself, if the person making the statement and the person they are making the statement about both applied to college and had identical academic qualifications, who would be preferred in the admissions process. If the person who made the questionable statement would be favored in the college admissions process due to their racial background, gender identity, or other non-academic factors over the person they made the statement about, the statement is acceptable. However, if the person the statement applies to would be favored in a college admissions process over the person who made the statement due to those factors , then the statement is racist / offensive / unacceptable. I hope that one day our society will become “color blind” and none of these issues will be relevant anymore. However, for the time being I think this test can provide helpful guidance when trying to evaluate whether something is racist / offensive / unacceptable in a complicated situation.
Gaucho basketball games used to chant “State School, State School, State School” whenever the Big West played And it wasn’t because all the students thought they were elite to all the lame-brained lesser students at the state colleges. It Was Just A Competitive joke! As it was here. What’s happening now a days is as if the dictionary has been digitally opened for the first time as big words get to iPhones and everyone acts as if they just discovered English for the first time. Relax. The kids meant nothing personal. At absolute worst it was misguided. My gosh.
Years ago, when our basketball team headed north, the racism was really out there. Some schools obviously didn’t like black players in their locker rooms. North as in Morro Bay, Atascadero, and other very racist communities up in SLO.
While an example of poor sportsmanship by the fans, to claim xenophobia is ridiculous.
I had a friend who taught at St. Joseph’s. She said it was a toxic environment. I went to Catholic schools for 10 years. Close minded and inbred with entitlement. No way should there be vouchers to use public funds for religious schools. Ergo, avoid Andy Caldwell like the plague.
The way EVERYONE throws the “racist” word around these days, I would venture to guess we are ALL racists to an extent… The more people want to have their entire identity based on their race instead of being a member of OUR society and working together, the more it’s pointed out that we are all “different”… Therein lies the problem with BS terms like “diversity”- It just points out and creates division where there was once none… P/C gone wrong in our society.
Students that act like that should not be allowed to have Basketball programs at their High School.
Stupid kids acting stupid. For punishment, make the Righetti team play a game at home with no Righetti students allowed in the gym.
For the worst student chant of all time, look up Steve Kerr vs. Arizona State.
French is not a ‘race’, how can this be racist?
Xenophobia is ignorant and disgusting. Everybody except the natives came here from another country. Even Trump’s grandpa, who fulfilled his family’s purpose of being pimps and conmen when he opened a hotel full of prostitutes in Alaska.
Read the whole article. French and Puerto Rican. Nice cherry picking of content.
We got in trouble for chanting “bolshevik” during basketball games. Times have really changed.
A French person is from a european culture, hence the xenophobia (dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries). A lot of this comes out our isolation from the world and current politics are not making it better.
It’s time to shut down all sports in high schools countywide, I tell ya. Those younguns are outta control.
“Everybody ‘except the natives’ came here from somewhere else.” What?
Unclear what you don’t understand BC. Everyone comes from an immigrant unless you’re a Native American.
High schools are now recruiting overseas students to play on their teams? Get a life and get over yourselves. Rival schools have always chanted at each other. Bishop cheerleaders used to chant “ Carp sucks lemons” Wonder what they chant now?
I used to coach for St Jo. When we played Righetti the athletes were rude and cruel. Mine was a small team with no chance of winning but never the less were harassed with nasty remarks on skill levels and personal appearance until some of my girls were crying in the dressing room. Their coach said “just kids” There should be consequences for BAD behavior! They are old enough to know better.
They are good students on both sides. (Someone else said that about two different factions sometime back.)
All over the US high school athletics has been compromised, exploited and corrupted by money. Every parochial school (Protestant, Catholic especially) has tried to raise their profile by fielding powerful teams. This involves buying (scholarships) players that would have normally been in neighborhood schools. In addition, we have “academy” schools that are 100% for developing future professional athletes. These semi-pro level programs are funded by big money alums and private contributions which are enchanted with the success of the program. Not a lot of discussion as to the academic work, more about the athletic work. Really a result of our free enterprise system in which making money is the end all of life. Sad loss for the old fashioned values of local culture and schools and opportunity for all.