Racists think they can perform their hateful antics with no consequence so they continue to flaunt their ignorance.
The latest incident took place in Illinois this past Friday evening in the third quarter of a football game between Homewood-Flossmoor High School and Lincoln-Way East.
During the former’s homecoming an 10-year anniversary for the class of 2016, students from the latter were caught on camera making monkey noises and mimicking monkey movements towards the Black fans and alums.
The video drew immediate reactions from both schools.
“We would like to sincerely apologize to the HF community for the behavior displayed by these students,” wrote Lincoln-Way administrators in a statement. “We have identified the students involved and will follow through with the district’s discipline policies and procedures to the fullest extent.”
While the school said the five students involved in the incident aren’t members of the football team and they were immediately removed from the property, it doesn’t diminish the impact or intent of their actions.
“They were making monkey sounds, and they were flapping their arms like monkeys, and they were crawling like monkeys,” said parent Vicky Carter to ABC7 News Chicago. “It was very disturbing to my children.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t a new occurrence. We’ve written about multiple instances of racism at high school sporting events over the past few years.
In 2021, we wrote about three incidents that took place at girls and boys basketball games across the country during that year.
In 2023, players from Beloit Memorial High School in Muskego, WI entered the locker room to swastikas, the N-word and the word “monkey” written in the dust on the lockers.
This past April in Portland, students staged a walk-out in protest over an opposing player on the baseball team using a racial slur.
Now, at the start of the new school year and the fall sports schedule, we have yet another example of the hate that young people think it’s ok to openly display.
On Saturday, Illinois High School Association Executive Director Craig Anderson issued the following statement:
“The IHSA strongly condemns the racist actions that were perpetrated by a small number of Lincoln-Way East High School students in attendance at its football game against Homewood-Flossmoor High School on September 4. High school sports are defined by community and camaraderie, and every high school student-athlete in Illinois deserves to compete in a safe and respectful environment. These values are requisite to remain a member in good standing of the IHSA, and the Lincoln-Way East administration has affirmed that they recognize the serious nature of this situation and are acting accordingly. We will be working with both schools to make sure an appropriate resolution is reached and to be a resource in any way that we can.”
We’ll wait to see what that “appropriate resolution” will be. We will keep you updated when a punishment is revealed.
