East Bay school district investigates allegations of anti-Asian slurs on baseball field
Two players on the Albany High School baseball team were the subject of racist taunts during a home game against Pinole Valley High, prompting an apology from the school principal and an investigation by the school district.
Video shows taunts such as 'Baljeet' and 'PF Chang' directed at South Asian and Chinese American pitchers from Albany High School during the game against Pinole Valley on April 23.
Pinole Valley High School's principal, Todd Irving, sent a formal letter of apology Thursday to the Albany High School principal and community. The letter acknowledged that 'unacceptable conduct' occurred during that game, said the school is investigating reports about 'inappropriate and racist remarks,' and that he and the school's athletic director met with the baseball team to address the seriousness of the situation, according to a copy of the letter shared with the Chronicle by a parent.
It's unclear who made the remarks. Irving's letter says 'a student in the crowd who was suspected of making the comments' was identified and 'the issue was addressed with the individual.'
The letter also stated that the Pinole Valley High School baseball coach did not hear the remarks but said a small group of students who 'regularly attend games' had previously been warned about inappropriate behavior.
Irving did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
West Contra Costa Unified School District is aware of 'serious allegations involving racial harassment during the April 23 game' and is investigating, said spokesperson Raechelle Forrest. She added that the district is 'actively working to identify the participants involved' and taking 'every possible measure' to ensure incidents like this do not occur at its sports events.
Eugene Lee, whose son plays for Albany and was one of the targets of the slurs, sent a letter on April 30 to the West Contra Costa Unified School District on behalf of Albany parents demanding immediate termination of the Pinole Valley season. The regular season ended Friday so the punishment would mean the team misses the postseason.
'Because it's anti-Asian racism, people are more dismissive of it,' said Lee. 'That's what is causing a lot of the anger among our families. We're supposed to accept the 'trust us, we won't let it happen again.''
Lee had also asked for the district to investigate the incident, publicly document disciplinary actions and conduct a review of how the district responds to race-based harassment. When Lee's son stepped up to pitch on April 23, someone yelled 'PF Chang, is that you?' according to a video of the game that Albany parents took and Lee uploaded to YouTube. Lee said his son told him that someone else shouted, 'He can't see through those eyes,' after he threw a pitch and hit the batter, though it was not audible in the video.
At four points during the video, voices making barking sounds could be heard when Lee's son pitched. Barking has a history of being used as an anti-Asian taunt, linked to the racist stereotype that Chinese people eat dogs.
As an Albany pitcher of South Asian descent stepped up to the plate, chants of 'Baljeet, Baljeet' are heard on the video. Baljeet Tjinder is an Indian American character on the Disney channel animated show 'Phineas and Ferb.'
The letter from Irving to the Albany community also said that all Pinole Valley players were required to retake their 'sportsmanship certification' to 'reinforce the importance of respectful conduct and ethical play.'
Lee called the move 'comically inadequate.'
'The lesson you've taught your kids is that consequences can be outright avoided,' he added. Parents were also upset about videos posted on April 27 to an Instagram account with the username Pinole.barstool from the game between Pinole Valley and Albany alongside the final scores, showing Pinole had won. The post was captioned 'need we say more #wedontdiscriminate #loveyourneighbor.' The two hashtags have since been deleted, but Lee provided a screen recording showing the original caption.
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