8th ranked Miami Central high school will face 3rd ranked Hoover High School (Alabama) in a nationally televised game tomorrow night on ESPN. But a hate letter sent to Central’s head coach Roland Smith, filled with racial slurs, has put a damper on the highly anticipated event.
The president of Miami Central’s alumni association, William Clark, spoke with local radio station 560 WQAM this morning about the letter.
“Yesterday at practice I was informed by the head coach he received a particular letter from a Hoover High School football fan,” Clark said during the radio interview. “It said after we beat your [expletive] remind the Miami fans to pick up their chicken bones and red cups. It was laced with all types of expletives.
“It may not be how most Hoover fans think. But this is Alabama. I’m on my way to Birmingham, Alabama, and we’re constantly reminded we are in Alabama with Confederate flags, salutes to George Wallace and that old dirty low-down south many of our parents had to endure in the 1960s. We don’t take that threat or that tone very lightly.
“Again, it’s probably not conducive to how most Hoover fans feel. They are a class program. But we do know the temperature in the country with what’s going on in Ferguson, Missouri, and we’re not taking this lightly.”
“We have a bunch of street smart kids,” Clark said on the radio. “Sometimes you can use certain things as motivation. But we also wanted them to be aware of their surroundings as well. If they see something that looks funny to alert us. Coach Smith is a very responsible young man. He did discuss it with the principal. He did alert his team they are going into a very hostile environment. It’s a shame too. Hoover is one of the top teams in the country. We know it’s going to be a tough battle.
“We don’t need that type of negativity around the program.”
It’s a shame that prior to one of the biggest football games of their high school careers, these young men have to deal with this. We know from the recent events in Ferguson or just daily life, racism is alive and well in this country and it’s important that we talk about it instead of acting like it doesn’t exist. I hope Central will be able to use this as motivation to go out there and play the best game of their lives. That would really make that cowardly racist fan mad.