Two Kansas Schools Investigate After Students Shout Racist Slurs, Bring Black Doll To Basketball Game
Both the Topeka High School and Valley Center High School basketball teams went head-to-head on the court this past Saturday. High school coach Geo Lyons created a Change.org petition asking for the matter to be rectified after the visiting team was met with unruly fans screaming “racial slurs, threats and disgusting taunts.”
“He also explained that students weren’t only taunted, but Valley Center students also used a Black baby doll to agitate his team during the game,” KSN News reports.
On Monday, Valley Center released an apology statement to Topeka High School for “inappropriate language and behavior.” The district explained that it devoted its weekend to investigating the allegations through interviews and game-day footage.
The Valley Center school district said that they believe fans from both schools were aggressive and very loud during an intense game, according to NBC. “Valley Center High School principals, Mrs. Melissa Seacat and Mr. Chris Asmussen, did their best to handle reported situations, particularly those involving some students in the Valley Center student section,” the statement read. “He’s a p—y.”
This sentence, while it may be true, is not appropriate for a school setting. If a student said this, they would be subject to disciplinary action. On Tuesday, school officials had not found evidence of racist allegations, but Valley Center acknowledged that its students’ ignorant ways were inappropriate.
A game attendee posted videos of a couple of intense incidents during the game on Facebook. Jo’Mhara Benning, a Topeka High School sophomore, posted two videos on social media of what took place from her point of view. ”
“Our parents were asking where our administrator was.”
“Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?” Benning said. “We were called the N-word by the students who were chanting names at our players, and we also heard…” Additional support will be added at future games to help with supervision.
