Photo by Ildar Sagdegev via Wikimedia Commons
Grassroots365 has issued an apology following a racial incident that occurred at a basketball tournament it hosted in Oakland this past weekend.
The incident took place during the Battle of the Bay III tournament at Oakland’s Soldiertown basketball facility near Jack London Square, according to SF Gate. The two teams playing were South Bay Snipers and the San Francisco Generals.
KPIX obtained footage of the game that shows a Filipino teen named Evan being shoved and punched by a player on the other team. Evan and his parents say that the player used a racial slur.
“They did use the ‘C’ word,” Lennie, Evan’s mother told KPIX.
The player allegedly responsible for punching Evan has been banned, according to the player’s coach.
Evan and his parents originally sought an apology from the Amateur Athletic Union or AAU, an organization that oversees amateur basketball throughout the United States.
“We pay a lot of money, a lot of families pay a lot of money for this AAU,” Lennie told KPIX.
AAU however issued a statement clarifying that it did not have jurisdiction because the San Francisco Generals are not affiliated with the AAU.
Grassroots365, who hosted the tournament, has issued an apology.
“We strongly condemn anti-Asian racism and any and all forms of discrimination against any ethnicities in all of our programs and events,” the statement reads.
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