California high school basketball game ends in ‘chant ‘Where’s your passport?’

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A California high school basketball game ended with students from one school erupting into a chant of “Where’s your passport?” as the opposing team’s principal angrily confronts them.

The chant erupted at the conclusion of the contest between St. Joseph High School, a private school, and Righetti High, a public school located across the street in Santa Maria, according to the Santa Maria Times.

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Erinn Dougherty, the St. Joseph’s principal who stormed over to condemn the Righetti High student section after the game ended, referred to the chant as “racially charged rhetoric,” but said she didn’t feel the students realized “what they were saying.”

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St. Joseph, a private school located across the street from Righetti, a public school, has a player from France on its roster and three players from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory which doesn't require a passport. Under coach Tom Mott, the Knights have consistently fielded teams with players from all over the world.

St. Joseph has beaten Righetti the last six times the teams have met on the court.

On Wednesday, Mott said he understood the chant could be interpreted as racist, but felt that was not the intent of the group of students who chanted it

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