Submitted by Theodore M. Shultz
I grew up on Coronado, attended Coronado schools, and graduated from Coronado High School in 1962. I left Coronado in the mid-sixties to attend the University of Washington before returning to Coronado to obtain a Masters’ degree from SDSU. In 1974, I returned to Seattle and have lived there for the last 47 years. My family still owns property on Coronado. Last Tuesday, June 22, 2021, the Washington Post published two articles that were of particular interest to me. The first was an opinion piece by Michael Gerson that dealt with institutional and systemic racism. The second was a piece by Des Bieler recounting the tortilla throwing incident at the end of the Coronado and Orange Glen basketball game. I was deeply disturbed and saddened by the Bieler article. Not because of the act of one insensitive individual, but because there were students, parents, players, and apparently the coach that were willing to go along with what I could only see as a racist display against a school and team that was predominantly Hispanic.
Now, I am not imagining that Coronado in the ’50s and ’60s was not racist. It was after all predominantly white, middle and upper class, and conservative. Remember, the Navy still had Filipino mess boys and what few enlisted men lived on Coronado were mainly quartered in the old Projects. However, no matter what thoughts were held, they were not openly displayed. So, to discover that the students, players, some parents, and the coach are willing to participate in an open display of racism, and then to have it reported on in a newspaper with national circulation was upsetting.
I have raised several children and am old enough to know that children learn by example from parents, teachers, and particularly coaches. Coaching involves more than game strategy, technique, and conditioning. At its heart, it includes sportsmanship, and court etiquette. Michael Gerson noted that we “have a responsibility as citizens, and as moral creatures, to seek a society where equal opportunity is a reality for all.” He concluded his article with this thought: “The response to systemic racism is the determined, systematic application of our highest ideals.”
Clearly, the highest ideals are no longer part of the Coronado curriculum or culture.
Ted M. Shultz
Mercer Island, WA
