A California high school has canceled the rest of its football season after a video surfaced of players acting out a “slave auction”. (Read More Here).
‘(River Valley players) may argue that it was a joke, and they intended no harm, but the fact is that this is not only harmful, it is disgraceful.’
‘Re-enacting a slave sale as a prank tells us that we have a great deal of work to do with our students so they can distinguish between intent and impact.’
‘They may have thought this skit was funny but it is not; it is unacceptable and requires us to look honestly and deeply at issues of systemic racism.’
The team members identified in the ‘unfortunate and extremely distressing incident’ video were immediately suspended for the remainder of the season for violating the school’s student-athlete code of conduct.
This meant that the football team did not have enough players to compete in the league and were forced to forfeit every game.
Some of the players involved may face further disciplinary measures, Osumi said, and the school will also implement ‘education, honest, open discussions and instruction’ around racism.
‘At this time, the District and site administration are working in earnest to identify lessons and programs to help our student body learn from this situation,’ she went on.
‘When students find humor in something that is so deeply offensive, it tells me that we have an opportunity to help them expand their mindset to be more aware, thoughtful and considerate of others.’
A northern California high school canceled the rest of its football season after the team enacted a racist and offensive prank.
The football team at River Valley High School in Yuba City, Calif., shared a video where team members appeared to act out a “slave auction” with Black teammates
The team members involved in the video were kicked off the team for the remainder of the season for violating the school’s student-athlete code of conduct, and that left the football team without enough players to compete for the rest of the 2022 campaign. River Valley forfeited the rest of the games on its schedule.
In a school email, obtained by the Sacramento Bee, Osumni previously wrote to parents and District members: “I received a copy of a recording of River Valley High School football team members acting out a reprehensible act of a slave auction. The recording clearly demonstrates that this situation was orchestrated and organized, which underscores my concern that students spent time contemplating this terrible act without the slightest regard that this action is hateful and hurtful.”
The sick stunt is not the first such incident of school kids pretending to hold mock slave auctions.
In March earlier this year, a North Carolina middle school held a mock slave auction and white students pretended to sell a black student for $350 while singing the n-word.
The mock auction happened in the presence of staff and faculty at the J.S. Waters School near Raleigh and was even recorded on video, according to the Chatham Organizing For Racial Equity.
The tasteless role play was first made public when Ashley Palmer, a mother of a student at the school, posted about it on Facebook, having been told about the incident by her own son, Jeremiah.
Palmer was further infuriated when the perpetrators were suspended for just a day, with the school district forced into action thanks to a tidal wave of local fury.
