Rangers investigating claim of racism toward Hispanic family in stands
The Texas Rangers are investigating a claim from a Hispanic mother that a white man in the stands at Saturday’s game against the Detroit Tigers berated her family with racist taunts.
Jessica Romero of Forth Worth, Texas, posted a Facebook image of an unidentified fan in the stands flipping her family the middle finger while sitting in the stands.
‘Kick little Speedy Gonzalez’ back to Mexico
She wrote that the man made repeated racist remarks about immigrants while he was surrounded by Hispanic families at the game:
“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.”
The Facebook post went viral, having gained 64,000 likes at the time of this post.
Rangers respond
The Rangers acknowledged Romero’s complaint Monday, telling the Dallas Morning News that they have reached out to the family and are investigating the incident.
"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."
Romero’s husband Ramon Romero told the Morning News that he was buying concessions when most of the alleged harassment took place and that his wife didn’t tell him about it until after the game in an effort to not escalate the situation.
“It struck me that he's at a game being played by so many Latinos that maybe we are good enough to play for him, but not good enough to sit near him,” Ramon Romero told the Morning News.
Romero accounted the incident to “some bad apples” and said that hearing from the Rangers meant “a lot.”
Anti-immigrant culture
The alleged harassment occurred hours after the El Paso, Texas, shooting on Saturday that saw 22 people murdered at a Walmart.
The suspect in the shooting is believed to be responsible for an anti-immigrant screed lamenting the “Hispanic invasion of Texas” and echoing rhetoric associated with President Donald Trump regarding immigration.
More from Yahoo Sports:
