Rivera
is a father of four, including an Orange Glen High School basketball player. He lives in Escondido.
I am the father of one of the athletes on the Orange Glen High School varsity basketball team, Axel Rivera, a sophomore. I was embarrassed for him and my other children attending the June 19 championship game against Coronado High School, to have experienced an obviously racist incident, along with his teammates and their families of Mexican descent. It was heartbreaking, wrong and disappointing that this kind of incident still occurs in 2021. We cannot allow this to happen again. The California Interscholastic Federation had the power to make this the last time this ever happens by properly punishing the Coronado players involved in throwing tortillas and the coach for instigating the incident and by stripping the team of its championship as a deterrent for any future incidents. Its punishment was justified.