BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHTDaily Post Staff Writer
A former Mountain View High School student has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was subject to years of racism, including students calling him the N-word, football coaches making comments about his race and someone fabricating a racially charged quote of his in the yearbook.
“I can’t breathe,” the yearbook quote said, referencing the final words of George Floyd. The quote was attributed to student Amir Ware on the varsity football page, but Ware said he never submitted the quote.
Ware said he complained to Principal Kip Glazer and Superintendent Eric Volta, but they never publicly acknowledged what happened.
Ware is suing the Mountain View Los Altos High School District for racial discrimination, negligent supervision and inflicting emotional distress. “He was ostracized by his peers and experienced daily distress at school. Yet no investigation of racism against Mr. Ware ever occurred,” said the lawsuit, filed in federal court on Tuesday.
The Post couldn’t reach Volta on Friday to get the district’s side of the story.
Ware said he went to Mountain View High School for one week during his sophomore year before going on independent study after a series of racist comments from his peers.
Ware said the same thing happened as a junior, and he stuck around for a semester as a senior in the 2024-25 school year.
Constantly judged
On the football team, Ware said he was constantly judged for how he looked and treated differently because he was one of only five black players.
One white player repeatedly called Ware the “full N-word” with a hard “R,” the suit said.
Ware’s teammates and coaches teased him about his weight, joking that he was thin “just like a starving African child,” the suit said.
Coach Rick Esparza allegedly benched Ware for dropping a pass, while several white players kept playing after bigger errors, the suit said.
Ware said he tried to laugh off the daily episodes of racism, but he felt like he didn’t belong. He returned to independent study for his final semester of high school.
Ware said he discovered that the yearbook had printed the “I can’t breathe” quote on May 22, 2025, when fellow students frantically texted him.
Ware’s mom emailed Glazer and Volta to complain. Ware “was publicly shamed and disgraced and requested an equally public clarification and apology,” the suit said.
According to the lawsuit, Volta told Ware it “would be hard to make that happen” and offered instead to “put something” in the student newspaper. But no story ever came out.
Yearbook correction attempted
The school stopped handing out the yearbook six days later and asked students to bring back yearbooks they already had for an “immediate correction.”
The school put yellow tape or black marker over the quote in redistributed yearbooks, a photo in the suit shows.
But the tape only drew more attention to the quote, the suit said.
At a track and field banquet on June 3, Ware said he wasn’t acknowledged even though he broke school records and helped the team get to a state championship for the first time in school history.
Coach Mark Rutner apologized for the oversight after the banquet, an email shows.
Ware is now on the track team at College of San Mateo.
“To date, Mr. Ware has yet to receive any of the requested relief from the school,” said the suit, filed by attorney Carlos Rosario.
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