Jessica Romero, her husband, Ramon, and her son were just taking in a game of baseball at Globe Live Park in Arlington, Texas over the weekend when they became victims of a white man’s racism. When the trio tried to take a photo at the Texas Rangers game, they heard a man say, “Let me see how I can f*ck up their pic.” At first Romero didn’t realize that the man was talking about them, but when she reviewed the images, she could see he had flipped them off in the background of their photo. Eventually, he stopped being subtle about his bigotry.
“He made it perfectly clear during the second inning that he is not a fan of Hispanics,” she wrote on Facebook. “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 who looked to be about [my son] 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.”
The Rangers said it was looking into the incident and denounced the man’s behavior, according to NBC News. The team also vowed to “make [the family’s] next trip to Globe Life Park a memorable and enjoyable experience.” The Romeros can go to any game left in the season, and they’ll be the special guests of Chuck Morgan, the park’s public address announcer.
Other fans of the team have also offered up their tickets. “I want the family to know and feel that the vast, vast majority of people don’t think that way,” Chapman said. “I want them to feel 100 percent welcomed by their community and the Rangers’ community.”
The incident at the park happened the same day that a man opened fire in an El Paso Walmart, where he targeted the city’s Latinx community. Many have blamed President Donald Trump – who has derided Latinxs, immigrants, and other communities of color – for giving racists permission to act out on their most hateful instincts.