“One, Two, Three, N-Bomb!” High School Basketball Team Used Racial Chant to Get Psyched!?
In the category of ‘what the fuck!?’ it seems that a dozen or more members of the Kenmore East High School girls varsity basketball team were suspended this week, apparently for…get ready for this…chanting “one-two-three, [N-Bomb]!” before every game, and its supposedly been going on for years.
Tyra Batts, the team’s only African American player was shocked when she heard the chant last week and complained about the ‘tradition.’ She was told, ‘You know we’re not racist, Tyra. It’s just a word, not a label” by the other girls. The practice was discovered by school administration after Tyra was suspended for getting into a fight with the other players over the chant and other slurs like racial references to slavery, shackles and picking cotton.
The school superintendent is taking the situation seriously and has instituted the following disciplinary measures, but Batts’ family and many others are wondering, are they harsh enough?
- All Kenmore East High School varsity girls basketball team practices have been suspended through the rest of this week.
- Saturday’s scheduled game against Olean has been postponed.
- The related team field trip to St. Bonaventure University has been canceled.
- The student athletes will all serve a one-game suspension by the end of the season, at games to be determined at a later date. It’s not expected that the girls would all be suspended for the same game, which would result in a forfeited game.
- Mondanaro is voluntarily rescinding last year’s Niagara Frontier League Sportsmanship Award for the entire school.
- Students who engaged in the chant will receive a two-day, out-of-school suspension.
- The student athletes will be required to participate in cultural sensitivity training, which is being arranged through an outside agency.
Go to Buffalonews.com to read the full story.
Do you think the superintendent’s actions were appropriate? not harsh enough? or do you think they are overreacting?
