On Minority Prep Athletes Messing with their Racist High School Counterparts

By Gustavo Arellano Wed., Jun. 17 2009 at 10:22 AM

Categories: Gunkist Memories, Sports

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OC Weekly contributor and my occasional KPFK-FM 90.7 producer Gabriel San Roman wrote a great recollection on his personal blog about his days as a varsity basketball player for Savanna High School in Anaheim during the late 1990s. The ostensible reason for the post was a response to arrogant lefties who decry sports as the opiate of the masses; San Roman pointed out that playing prep hoops proved crucial to his political formation.

"There was never a separation nor was there a sense that basketball and politics were mutually exclusive," he explained. "This was most pronounced when I played for my High School Basketball team and matched up throughout the years against the wealthier school of Brea Olinda in Orange County. Because of a class consciousness that was known through life experience, not by reading Marx, these games amped me and my teammates more than any others. The smugness of Brea labeled our school and its students as 'apartment dwellers.' Their campus resembled a junior college. Ours? A steel cage match."

San Roman goes on to reveal their team's rallying circle cry when playing against the Wildcats: "Minorities on 3! 1,2,3, Minorities!"

This incident reminded me of another Brea Olinda High student racialist moment: my senior year at Anaheim High, when we played the Wildcats at their beautiful home field for a football game, our quarterback didn't even bother with code to bark out the plays--he spoke to his teammates in plain Spanish, infuriating and flummoxing the non-Latino opposing side (this bit of Reconquista was documented in the small-but-excellent Anaheim Colonists Football: A Century of Tradition).

What San Roman failed to point out (although we joke about it all the time) is that Savanna's mascot is Johnny Reb and that for decades, the school proudly hung the Stars and Bars!

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I worked for Obama and I went to Tustin H.S. in the late 1960s. I can tell you that many of the Foothill students, and parents, were racist. Many Tustin HS parents and students were also in that same category. I remember going into a store in Jamestown Village in downtown Tustin and seeing a "comic" sign about Blacks that used the "N..." word during the mid-1980s. I can also string words together and I lived through the racism that was Tustin, and probably is to some extent today. Racism teaches racism, unless the cycle is broken. I work for Obama because this country needs change. We made some strides in the right direction but have a long way to go. Nobody said this was an easy transformation. Economic problems bring out racist attitudes. Track the Alien and Sedition Acts as far back as Thomas Jefferson. This economic situation didn't happen overnight. It's not going to be fixed in two years. It took until after WWII for the economy to come out of the Great Depression and that included the funding for the war machine. We spent out military booty during the Bush Administration. Don't believe me, read up. Try Arthur Schlesinger's work on the Depression. You'll be enlightened. Instead of complaining, do something. Volunteer to help tutor at a school; stop smoking dope so the bandits stop fighting over the illegal U.S. drug trade; read history so your posts will be more informed....the list is endless. I'd add here: Stop believing slogans. Haven't we given Wall Street and Halliburton enough of our hard-earned tax dollars. Throw out this group of legislators and put the old back in and see how bad things get. Need I remind you that Bush went through a monster surplus in only eight years and was in the red when he left office. He's the modern-day U.S. Grant. Gave to his friends with our tax dollars. Finally, stop blaming the president for your failure to investigate what went on for several decades prior to his administration. The first exemptions for bankers and trading were passed in the last year of the Clinton Administration. It was in the newspapers, but I guess folks here were busy name calling. Let's start some positive change here. Starting with ourselves.
RP in FV, You can sure string a lot of words together without saying jack-sh*t. Do you work for Obama?
Wasn't this all about Gabriel's experience? I wasn't there, nor was Junior or even Gustavo. But when experiences of covert racism have occurred in our lifetimes (possibly like the groom's side of the church at Junior's wedding, hey... it was possible), those of us in the minority can relate. It's not your fault, Junior. Where we saw racism, you saw elitism; that's a cracker word for "so you think you're BETTER than me?!" Look, Eddie Haskell from "Leave It to Beaver" was WAY better at disguising his true feelings than you or me or the kids at Brea Olinda or anyone else for that matter. Just because we're not as good at expressing covert racism or elitism or any other "isms", doesn't mean we can't identify it. Next time Junior, read between the lines like Gustavo suggested. You might even have to read it twice. Me and the crackers in FV will be glad you did.
Gustavo said: "... if you knew RP (and I know him vaguely), "racist" is the last thing you'd call him." Yeah Gustavo, I figured that, an FV guy - must get along pretty good with the crackers. As for the spelling comment - I was tired, big weekend. You know - as RP says, junior likes to party.
Junior: That this is the second time you referred to Gabriel San Roman as RAMON shows that your "interpretation" of North County racial tensions is as laughable as your spelling abilities. And, if you knew RP (and I know him vaguely), "racist" is the last thing you'd call him.
RP in FV, Ramon did not say that he and his teammates were called anything. He referenced his interpritation of the smugness of the Brea athletes. I offered an alternate interpritation, just as valid. Your second paragraph is indicative of your racism and for that you did not apologize. The balance of your comment is nonsense, so I will not even attempt to deal with that.
To quote Gabriel San Roman's article: "... I played for my High School Basketball team and matched up throughout the years against the wealthier school of Brea Olinda in Orange County"; "The smugness of Brea labeled our school and its students as 'apartment dwellers.' � If I mislabeled you as fat, drunk and stupid... well, for that I'm sorry. I guess I was a bit thrown off by your screen name, "Junior". But your failing to make a connection to racism from the quotes above is amazing to me. I don't really the think the wealthier families in Brea that Gabriel was referencing were the Picos, Yorbas or the Sepulvedas. If you don't see the racism, Junior, how about the irony in the fact that the Brea Olinda kids were taunting the kids from Anaheim (a blend of "Ana", after the nearby Santa Ana River, and "heim", a common Upper German place name compound originally meaning "home"). Would you like to guess where the name "Brea Olinda" comes from? I'm not trying to solve or explain racism, Junior. I'm not even trying to trivialize it. You should know by now that the Hispanic heritage throughout history has dealt with racism and social inequality with several forms of humor. And if you haven't learned that in over forty years, Junior, I can't help you with that. And as for the threat from your half Hispanic/half French Canadian kids, I'm not worried in the least. I will always have your suegros on MY side, bucko.
Hey RP in FV, I did not say that racism does not exist in OC or that it never did - I simply pointed out that I saw no examples of racism cited in either Ramon's or Gustavo's articles. Additionally, I would be happy to point out the examples of racism in your screed. And by the way bucko - I have been happily married to a hispanic for over forty years - my children are half hispanic and half crazed French Canadian - so you better watch your ass - or I will turn them loose (verbally) on your sorry butt.
Junior, To quote Dean Vernon Wormer, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." If you CHOOSE not to see racism, believe me, you will never see racism. Covert racism is nothing new to Orange County. Back in the "good old days", Mexicans could only sit in the balconies at the movie theaters in Santa Ana. If you see racism, you ask which area would be able to exit a crowded theater first in case of a fire, the floor seats or the balcony seats? If you choose not to see racism, you would say there is no difference if they're watching the same movie. (My dad said he enjoyed throwing Junior Mints at the pinches gueros down below.) Empathy isn't a bad word, Junior. Now turn off Fox News and go to the library. Yes, there's a lot of Asians in there, but it's okay. They won't hurt you.
Yes, racism is alive and well at BO (love to abbrieviate it that way!) High School. And not just on the sports scene. I know a Chicana who was reprimanded for speaking Spanish with her friends, and told to learn Korean. There are a lot of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese students from outside the district attending there because of the school's academic reputation. Her brother was repremanded and his cell phone confiscated, but the out-of-district students seem to be exempt from such actions. But if you really want to experience racism, attend a basketball game between Foothill and Tustin high schools. Typical cheer a few years ago from the FHS bleachers called attention to the wealth of families in North Tustin/East SanTana, in comparison to the studentbody of Tustin High, where most of the district's Hispanics live.
Read between the lines, junior.
I did not see any examples of racism in this story. Certainly the Brea players were condescending and had a smug superior attitude - (read behaved like assholes). But I think they would have acted in the same demeaning manner to poor white students from Limonite - Colton. Where is the racism?
Ps, that's a great story about Anaheim football. Pinche windtalkers! ha ha
Yes, yes, I suited up in the red and gray "rebel" jerseys of Savanna...another interesting political basketball story around the issue of my high school's mascot. When the Varsity team made the CIF playoffs in '99, it had won home court advantage in the first round. With the stars and bars painted on the gym's walls, something I had long disdained and written about in my English class, it suddenly became a problem when the opponent in the brackets was Compton high school. Apparently, the principles of the two school phoned each other and the cheerleaders placed painted poster signs to cover up the flags (which like any patch work, looked suspicious as shit!) Thankfully, the flags are gone now, but the colors and the mascot of Johnny Reb need to go too! Seriously! *One minor side note: All my Brea battles, of which I got a technical foul for shit talking in the first play of one game, were all JV and below. I quit Varsity my senior year :s