Rangers ID, ban man accused of racist taunts toward Hispanic family
A man accused of directing racist taunts toward a Hispanic family in the stands of a Texas Rangers home game last week has been identified and banned from the stadium.
The team announced the indefinite banishment on Friday while providing no further statement. The man has not been publicly identified.
Racist taunts exposed in Facebook post
The harassment was exposed when Jessica Romero of Forth Worth, Texas, posted a Facebook image of the unidentified fan in the stands flipping her family the middle finger while sitting in the stands during Saturday’s game against the Detroit Tigers.
The post went viral in the aftermath of the Walmart massacre in El Paso, Texas earlier in the day that saw 22 people killed by an alleged gunman who police say has since said that he was targeting Mexicans.
‘Kick little Speedy Gonzalez out’
In the post, Romero detailed the alleged taunts her family and other Hispanics in their section were subject to, including the man saying “kick that little Speedy Gonzalez back to Mexico” while urging President Donald Trump to “hurry and build the wall.”
“At every game Munch always likes to take a selfie when we get to our seats,” Romero wrote. “As we are taking the pic I hear the guy say ‘let me see how I can f--- up their pic’ not realizing he was talking about us until I saw the pic. He made it perfectly clear during the second inning that he is not a fan of Hispanics.
“And he just so happened to have a Hispanic family (us) sitting in front of him and another one sitting directly behind him. During the second inning the little boy behind him who looked to be about Nomar's age kicked the back of his chair. And for the next three innings I had to hear him complain about all the illegal immigrants that were surrounding him at the game.
“That he should kick little Speedy Gonzalez all the way back to Mexico for kicking his seat. That Trump needs to hurry and build the wall and send all these illegals back so they won't be kicking his seat. Sadly this is not the first or the last time we will ever experience this kind of racism.”
Free tickets for family
The Rangers have since offered the Romero family free tickets to another game this season while a season-ticket holder with front-row seats offered them his seats for a game in an effort to make them feel welcome.
The Rangers released a statement on the incident after Romero published the Facebook post.
“The Rangers are committed to providing all of our guests with a safe and enjoyable experience, and we are truly sorry that this family was subjected to this offensive behavior at Saturday's game,” a statement read. “There is no place at Globe Life Park in Arlington for this type of conduct to occur. After learning of this incident on Sunday, we have reached out to the Romero family and pledge to make their next trip to Globe Life Park a memorable and enjoyable experience.”
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