Wisconsin high school students accused of chanting racist insults during basketball game

[SummerMadness]

'We all felt disrespected': Franklin HS students accused of chanting racist insults during basketball game

An investigation is underway into racial slurs chanted during a high school basketball game. Horlick High School players say Franklin High School students chanted slurs at them during a basketball game Thursday night, February 22nd.

The Horlick students took part in a previously planned rally on Friday, February 23rd. They used it as an opportunity to talk about what happened. They say they felt disrespected and hurt and now they want something to be done about it.

While the students in Florida represent the best of us, some other students represent the worst.

 

[Larniavc]

Shocking.

Absolutely shocking. The head teacher needs to be taken to task.

 

[Theodoric]

That is appalling, and I make no excuse for it. But if you read the entire article it does appear to have been a small group with a single ring leader.

 

[SummerMadness]

That is appalling, and I make no excuse for it. But if you read the entire article it does appear to have been a small group with a single ring leader.

This is the same high school where students posted a "white" and "colored" sign above their drinking fountains.

 

[Occams Barber]

That is appalling, and I make no excuse for it. But if you read the entire article it does appear to have been a small group with a single ring leader.

We must be reading different articles. I read the linked article several times and could find no mention of the culprits being "a small group with a single ringleader".

There is mention of a single student being removed from the gymnasium. There is no indication of the size of the group or of a ringleader.
OB

 

[Theodoric]

We must be reading different articles. I read the linked article several times and could find no mention of the culprits being "a small group with a single ringleader".

There is mention of a single student being removed from the gymnasium. There is no indication of the size of the group or of a ringleader.
OB

We are in fact reading different articles. I always do, until I put together a more complete picture of the event. News agencies tend to cherry-pick the facts that support their narrative.

According to the Horlick player who was being taunted, the group was estimated as "around 25 students". The ringleader was the student who was removed from the gym.

Again, I am not saying this was OK. I'm saying to keep it in perspective. It was a small group of punks acting out.

 

[Ana the Ist]

'We all felt disrespected': Franklin HS students accused of chanting racist insults during basketball game

While the students in Florida represent the best of us, some other students represent the worst.

Shameful...but at least the school isn't ignoring it.

 

[SummerMadness]

We are in fact reading different articles. I always do, until I put together a more complete picture of the event. News agencies tend to cherry-pick the facts that support their narrative.

According to the Horlick player who was being taunted, the group was estimated as "around 25 students". The ringleader was the student who was removed from the gym.

Again, I am not saying this was OK. I'm saying to keep it in perspective. It was a small group of punks acting out.

Oh, I can keep it in perspective: this is the second incident at the high school in less than a month, there has been an increase in racial harassment at schools in the last year, and racism in youth sports has certainly been increasing recently.

What's Behind All The Racism At Youth Sports Events?

It seems like if you go to a school athletic event -- at any level -- and one team is all-white or almost all-white and the other is not, you're going to see something racist happen. These incidents were reported in recent weeks:

• Racial slurs directed by white fans at black opposing players are suspected of fueling a post-game brawl at a high school basketball game in San Antonio.
• White students at a posh Cincinnati prep school chanted racial slurs at two minority players on an opposing basketball team.
• The captain of a high school soccer team in the Fresno, Calif., area was suspended for two games after directing a racial slur at two black players on the opposing team.
• The owner of an Idaho youth soccer club whose members are mostly minority or immigrant families said a racist, threatening letter was placed on his car.
• The seventh-grade girls basketball team from Licking County, Ohio, kneeled before the playing of the national anthem in protest of the racial slurs that had been directed at it all year by its mostly all-white opponents. (Meanwhile, someone took a photo of that protest and shared it on Facebook, incorrectly claiming the players knelt during the anthem.)
• White fans at one Iowa high school directed racial slurs at the basketball players of another, a team that included many Hispanic students.
• Two white Kentucky high school basketball players -- including one committed to playing at Furman University -- were suspended for two games after a video that included racially charged comments against their opponents from a team consisting of mostly black players.

Keep in mind that these are only incidents that were reported publicly, and only in the last weeks. I'm sure there were plenty of other incidents that occurred but didn't get attention, and I say this based on racist behavior at youth sporting events that people have reported to me privately.

This is not to say this is most people, it's not. However, it is happening in increasing frequency and that is a problem that should not be ignored. Some people argue that you should simply remove students or suspend them, I do not think that is the right move because it doesn't address the racism. Some people sneer at the idea of talking with people, but it works, education will always stomp out ignorance. And what better place for education than in a school.

How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes

Daryl Davis is a blues musician, but he also has what some might call an interesting hobby. For the past 30 years, Davis, a black man, has spent time befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan.

He says once the friendship blossoms, the Klansmen realize that their hate may be misguided. Since Davis started talking with these members, he says 200 Klansmen have given up their robes. When that happens, Davis collects the robes and keeps them in his home as a reminder of the dent he has made in racism by simply sitting down and having dinner with people.