When the mostly Hispanic cheerleaders from the mostly Hispanic North Side High School went to shake hands with the Arlington Heights High cheer squad last weekend at Farrington Field before kickoff, Arlington Heights fans attacked.
They called the North Side girls racial slurs and even told them to go back to Mexico, according to eyewitnesses.
At least one Arlington Heights fan was also reportedly waving a flag for Donald Trump, the U.S. presidential candidate who describes Mexicans and other immigrants from south of the border as “murderers,” “rapists,” “vermin,” and “animals” “poisoning the blood of our country.” Along with tax cuts for the 1% and fetuses, racism is a defining characteristic of Trump’s campaign.
And it’s spreading. Conservatives’ end game is to see how far they can go in dehumanizing non-white, sometimes non-Christian Others, so when the deportations happen if Trump wins the election, the apolitical among us — i.e., the so-called independents — can just sit back and not feel guilty. The wealthy white male editor of the faux-intellectual magazine the National Review, who supports the twice-impeached adjudicated rapist for the White House, recently used the n-word in an on-air interview with a right-friendly host. She did not even blink. No matter how many times you watch this monster say five-sixths of that vile pejorative before stopping himself, he said it. Clearly. In this country. In the Year 2024. The racism baked into Trump’s presidential run is not an anomaly but a selling point, because intellectually and perhaps physically lazy and most likely overweight white people need someone to blame for all the jobs being taken by non-lazy immigrants. And multiple studies have found that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than U.S.-born Americans.
Trump supporters clearly have forgotten that he was who forced Republicans in Congress to kill the bipartisan bill that would have made our southern borders safer and more secure. He needs porous borders to scare his supporters and independents into thinking only he can stop the influx. He can’t. He had his chance during his presidency. He failed. But his supporters ignore it because they need to hold on to their racism. It defines them as much as it defines him. As an infamous political figure on the world stage, Donald Trump legitimizes their hate. “If a U.S. presidential candidate in the Year of Our Lord 2024 can get away with hating on non-whites nonstop,” the average Trumper feels, “then so can I. Here’s my MAGA flag and some racial slurs at a football game.”
The mainstream media is to blame for never pushing back on his bile and for normalizing his toxicity. Just for ratings. And here I am trying to avoid mentioning his name but failing because there are more of his misguided masses here in Tarrant County than us normal folk, and the voiceless normies among us need to know that this publication (with 2.6 million website visits per month and 41.8K followers on Instagram and 36.9K on Facebook) has their back.
“For the Arlington Heights community,” posted community leader Alexander Montalvo, “what are you going to do to hold these people accountable? Why were there no adults on the sidelines or in the stands addressing these racist attacks? For [Fort Worth] ISD, how in the world was this not addressed during the game? Those people should have been removed immediately. The game should have been stopped until they were removed. The [North Side] students should have been protected. This is a failure of adults in many areas. We need to be united and call for accountability. North Side and Arlington Heights, let’s come together to ensure this is not repeated and not normalized. We must take action together to call out this behavior and protect students.”
Montalvo and other community leaders have begun a letter-writing campaign aimed at garnering action from Fort Worth ISD and other local institutions.
“As of now,” the school district said in statement to the Star-Telegram, “we refer to this as an ‘alleged’ incident because we are still in the process of gathering facts. There have been multiple versions of events circulating, and it is important that we fully understand what transpired before making definitive conclusions. Fort Worth ISD does not condone the use of racial slurs or any form of discrimination, and we take these allegations very seriously. In line with our commitment to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for all students, FWISD has initiated a thorough investigation. Our Athletics Department, Safety and Security teams, and both school principals began their inquiry over the weekend.”
The Arlington Heights High School class president, who is Hispanic, also released a statement, saying, “The behavior described during our last football game by several members of the FWISD community does not represent Arlington Heights and is in no way tolerated. The student body and administration involved have made it their priority to ensure that our school events follow the guidelines and expectations outlined by” the rulemaking University Interscholastic League (UIL).
In a comment to Montalvo’s post, six-year Arlington Heights High School teacher Glenn Tidwell said, “Do I believe a student or a group of students said something awful? It wouldn’t surprise me at all. Kids can say really dumb and hurtful stuff. I’m certainly not going to call the affected kids from NSH liars, because I would never want them to feel ignored or brushed aside. Where there’s smoke, there’s probably fire. So, I won’t defend any knucklehead(s) who said hurtful things to innocent NSH cheerleaders. I hope they are held accountable. But I WOULD like to defend our cheer team, our football team, our coaching staff, and our student population in general. I have either taught or know many of the current cheerleaders and football players from our school. I cannot imagine that any of them would say such hurtful and unconscionable things. I can vouch for them. They are just really great kids, and I’ve grown to really love them.”
The last day to register to vote is Monday, Oct. 7. Check your registration now and make plans to reregister if you’ve been wiped from the rolls by the anti-minority, antidemocracy trolls in Austin. We normal, sane, non-hateful people need all the votes for decency we can muster. And votes for secure borders. The alternative is too unbearable — and dangerous — to even consider.
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
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