Two baseball coaches suspended following racist statements directed at Chinese American and Indian American players have gotten their jobs back, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
An investigation by the West Contra Costa School District east of San Francisco determined the coaches were not aware of the slurs until after the game.
It concluded the coaches took appropriate action immediately after hearing about the incident.
“Reports indicate that the inappropriate remarks may have come from the stands; however, the exact source has not been confirmed,” the district said in the statement to the Richmond Standard.
However, a separate investigation from the Albany Unified School District said its investigation determined the slurs came from the Pinole Valley High dugout and “not spectators,” according to the Chronicle.
Pinole Valley High head coach T’won Blake has vigorously defended his actions since the suspensions two weeks ago. He has repeatedly stated he did not hear the remarks during the game.
“No, I really don’t think our players were guilty of any racist comments. And, to say this: our team is multicultural. We have Asian players on our team as well,” Blake said to Fox2 News.
Blake says the suspension still is painful.
“To take it away from me, it hurts. But even to take away my character and my reputation along with that, it’s just damning. I’ve received death threats, my kids, getting pressured about Asian hate at school,” Blake said.
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He shouldn’t be denying his players made racist remarks without evidence, especially when the investigation concluded the remarks came from the dugout. Just because he didn’t hear any doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Saying there are Asian players on his team is condescending. So what? That doesn’t mean the other players didn’t make racist remarks. If he was not aware of the remarks at the time then maybe he should not have been suspended. But his automatic defense of the team sounds selfish and evasive. His quoted statements make it all about him being the victim instead of showing concern for the kids that were subjected to the racial slurs. Asians are constantly getting dumped on by other groups and its taken for granted that they are just going to take it.