None of this is surprising.
The only difference between 1961 and 2021 is technology has allowed us to better document the acts of racism in our country. There are still people who don’t think racism is a big problem, but they just have their heads buried in the sand because things like this happen every single day.
These are children that have to deal with that, and then you wonder why they grow up being paranoid about their surroundings and interactions with white people.
Deadspin has the details.
It’s not too difficult to piece together what happened: the referee used the N word, the STEM girls team walked out, and the boys team left with them, leading to the forfeit of the boys game. It’s not clear whether the girls game was also recorded as a forfeit, but it also doesn’t really matter what the initial decision was. If the referee really did that — and STEM’s walkout, and the specificity of the allegation that he said “little n****r” is pretty compelling evidence that he did — both games should be ruled no contest, and the referee never allowed anywhere near another high school basketball game.
Whether that will happen, and what kind of screening the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association does for its referees, that’s where there’s more to this than the simple WTF of it all. But good for the STEM Prep teams standing together and walking out together. Nobody should have to deal with that, and the consequence of their bravery should not be an “L” in the standings.
At the moment, this isn’t even being investigated, which tells you how much they really care about the incident, even though multiple witnesses and the players were backing up the accusations.
Flip the page for a video breakdown on what happened and why the girls and boys left the court after this clear hate crime and the act of racism.