Richard Bailey responds to CIF’s denial of Coronado High appeal in tortilla incident

This was posted on the Richard Bailey for Congress Facebook page. It is published here with Mayor Bailey’s approval. 

The California Interscholastic Federation just announced the appeal to reinstate the Coronado High School Boys Basketball Championship was denied.

Despite the fact that no one on the Varsity Boys Basketball team brought or threw tortillas, in addition to losing the championship title, the team is required to participate in racial and cultural sensitivity training.

This decision by CIF is entirely indefensible as it sets the precedent that all future wins in any sport by any team will be vacated if someone, even if they are unaffiliated with the school or team, does something someone finds politically incorrect.

The 40-year-old, self-described “Democratic-Socialist,” who identifies as an hispanic man, that brought the tortillas will not face any repercussions for his actions nor will the CUSD school board members that covered up his involvement. Only the diverse group of boys basketball players will be punished.

This is a gross failure of leadership that started with the CUSD board’s rush to judgement and continues today with CIF’s baseless decision.

The lesson here is even if you do the right thing, you can still be punished for the actions of others, and the governing bodies responsible for due process care more about advancing their own political narrative than the truth. Shame on them.

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Bailey is the Mayor of Coronado.