At least a dozen girls basketball players have been suspended for using a racial slur as part of a traditional pregame chant at a high school outside Buffalo, N.Y., according to a report.
For years, after the coaches and any other adults would leave the locker room, players reportedly said a prayer and then chanted, “One, two, three, [N-word]!”
Officials at Kenmore East High School said they were unaware of the practice until Tyra Batts, the team’s lone African-American player, choked and punched a teammate at school after Batts told her teammates to stop using the chant and they refused, The Buffalo News reports.
Superintendent Mark Mondanaro announced the following disciplinary measures, according to the News:
- All varsity practices were suspended through the rest of this week.Saturday’s game against Olean has been postponed, and a related field trip to St. Bonaventure University has been canceled.
- Players will serve one-game suspensions by the end of the season, although it’s not expected that the girls would all be suspended for the same game, as that would result in a forfeit.
- The school voluntarily rescinded last year’s Niagara Frontier League Sportsmanship Award.
- Students who engaged in the chant will receive two-day, out-of-school suspensions and be required to take cultural sensitivity training.
Batts was also suspended five days for her role in the fight.
Watch a video of Batts explaining her story here.
