Children who won robotics competition endure racist abuse

Children who won robotics competition endure racist abuse

A group of schoolchildren who won a robotics competition were subjected to a barrage of racist abuse from some rival pupils and their parents who shouted: "Go back to Mexico".

It was the first time that pupils from Pleasant Run Elementary School had entered the robotics challenge. Their victory over the youngsters from other Indianapolis schools, put them a step closer to the state championship.

Yet as the children, aged nine and ten, left the event and walked out to the parking area, some of the children they had just beaten, along with their parents, unleashed racist comments.

"They were pointing at us and saying that 'Oh my God, they are champions of the city all because they are Mexican. They are Mexican and they are ruining our country'," Diocelina Herrera, the mother of student Angel Herrera-Sanchez, told the Indianapolis Star.

The incident in the parking area had reportedly been preceded by racist comments that were being whispered inside the gymnasium at Plainfield High School.

The team from Pleasant Run Elementary School, Indiana, included three youngsters who are Latino and two who are African American. The children in the other 20 teams taking part in February contest were largely white.