MLB’s Texas Rangers investigating racist harassment towards Hispanic family

The Texas Rangers are investigating the harassment of a Hispanic family from nearby Fort Worth, who claimed on Facebook to have been the target of racist remarks from a fan seated behind them at Saturday’s game.

The incident took place just hours after Saturday’s deadly shooting at a Wal-Mart in El Paso, Texas, in which a gunman targeted Hispanic shoppers and ultimately killed 22 people.

In a Facebook post that has been shared nearly 70,000 times, Jessica Romero described the incident in the caption along with a photo depicting her family and their antagonist, who can be seen giving the middle finger in the shot.

‘As we are taking the pic I hear the guy say ‘let me see how I can f*** up their pic.’

Jessica Romero did not think that he was talking about them, until she saw the picture on her phone with the man conspicuously scratching the left side of his face with his right middle finger.

‘He made it perfectly clear during the 2nd inning that he is not a fan of Hispanics,’ Jessica Romero wrote on Twitter. ‘And he just so happen to have a Hispanic family (us) sitting in front of him and another one sitting directly behind him. During the 2nd inning the little boy behind him who looked to be about (her son) Nomar’s age kicked the back of his chair.

‘And for the next 3 innings I had to hear him complain about all the illegal immigrants that were surrounding him at the game,’ she continued. ‘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.’

Jessica said her family ‘left during the 5th inning,’ adding: ‘Sadly this is not the first or the last time we will ever experience this kind of racism.’

Her husband Ramon Romero was at the concession stand during the majority of the harassment, and explained he did not fully understand the depth of the issue until they left and Jessica explained everything that had taken place.

‘I was just in shock,’ he told The Dallas Morning News. ‘I would have said something, but she said she was more concerned about me and the safety of our son. She said she didn’t want anything to get out of control. But it does happen. 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, a die-hard Rangers fan who typically attends around 10 games per year, did not blame the team whatsoever: ‘It’s not the fault of the Rangers. There are just some bad apples’

As the Morning News reported, the Rangers have reached out to the family saying that such behaviour is a violation of the team’s personal conduct policy.

‘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,’ read the statement. ‘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.’

Ramon, a die-hard Rangers fan who typically attends around 10 games per year, did not blame the team whatsoever.

‘It’s not the fault of the Rangers. There are just some bad apples, and we happened to end up near the bunch. What we’ve heard from people and the Rangers since, though, means a lot. People do care. Strangers are apologizing. It gives me some strength to think that the stuff we are hearing about will get better.’