Updated: February 2, 2022 9:45am with video from Coronado City Council Meeting
Updated: January 31, 2022 4:30pm with a statement from the Coronado City Manager
Updated: January 31, 2022 12:15pm with a statement from Linfield Christian School
Roger Miller, Coronado’s Director of Recreation & Golf Services, and his wife have been accused of making racist comments regarding China and the coronavirus. The incident is alleged to have taken place near Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA on Saturday, January 29.
According to a video posted on social media, a couple (a man and a woman purported to be Miller and his wife) “started calling us racial slurs out of nowhere and blamed Asians for starting COVID. They continued to say racist comments loudly for us to hear, so we confronted them.”
In the videos, the woman can be heard saying, “I love that we are not their country, right? I love that we are not communism.”
The people filming respond, “Are you saying those words towards us? We’re not even Chinese by the way.”
As the couple gets in their car, the final remarks are, “Yeah, maybe, could be. America is a free country. Go back to China.” Miller displays his middle finger as they drive away.
Video of the incident:
View this post on Instagram
RT @thatdaneshguy • I’ve identified this man as Roger Miller, Director of Recreation and Golf in @CoronadoCity
— Ken Jeong (@kenjeong) January 31, 2022
In response to these allegations, Coronado City Manager Tina Friend released a statement on January 30:
“The City became aware of a recording of a City employee and alleged comments made. The City took immediate action to look into this report. As this is a personnel matter, I cannot discuss specifics at this point. This is a serious matter and I am taking appropriate action. The City of Coronado is a welcoming place for all.”
On Monday, January 31, Friend released an updated statement:
“Yesterday, the City of Coronado learned of a video circulating on social media featuring the actions of a City employee. The makers of the video alleged the City employee made a series of racist statements leading up to the filming of the video.
“We acted immediately, and the person involved has been placed on administrative leave pending an independent, full and fair investigation.
“Our City’s culture and values are core to who we are and that culture is based on professionalism, service and respect. We take matters such as this extremely seriously and the City has zero tolerance for all forms of discrimination.”
Video from Coronado City Council meeting on 2/1/22:
Coronado City Manager, Tina Friend, addresses “social media video”, the “pain this has caused” and summarizes timeline leading up to current investigation. https://t.co/r7AEq6KF78 #coronado pic.twitter.com/CM8KpV5T87
— Coronado Times News (@CoronadoIsland) February 2, 2022
The Coronado Times has reached out to Miller for comment.
Miller has worked for the City of Coronado since June 2009 when he was director of Golf Services. In November 2014, in addition to Golf, he was named interim director of Recreation, and in June of 2015 he became Director of the newly combined department of Recreation and Golf Services.
On Monday, January 31 Linfield Christian School terminated Sandra Miller:
This is a developing story.
