All-black youth team hears racial slurs after protest
‘Little (N-word) ... shouldn’t be able to play’
WASHINGTON • Youth football coach Marcus Burkley knew there would be backlash if his players knelt during the U.S. national anthem. He just never thought it would be this severe.
When three members of Burkley’s all-black team took a knee during a Saturday night game in Bethel Park, Pa., people in the stands began shouting racial slurs at them, eventually becoming so aggressive that police were called to keep the peace, he said.
“Once they took a knee, you see cameras and people taking pictures,” Burkley, who is also African-American, told WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh. “And out of nowhere you just hear, ‘If the little (N-word) want to take a knee, they shouldn’t be able to play.’”
As the game proceeded, Burkley said, some of his 12- and 13- year- old players told him they heard the same thing on the field from the opposing team. He said neither he nor his Woodland Hills Wolverines had encountered anything like it in the two years they have played in the league.
“It was sad and scary that kids were subjected to this,” Burkley said. “I didn’t sleep that night.” So far, no one has come forward to dispute the account.
Similar incidents have played out on athletic fields around the country in the weeks since San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sparked a national controversy by refusing to rise for The Star- Spangled Banner before a game — a protest he said was intended to draw attention to fatal shootings by police.
Also in September, a University of North Dakota linebacker who knelt at a game said people on Facebook and Twitter told him he deserved to be lynched, as The Washington Post reported.
What seems to set the situation for Burkley’s Wolverines apart is just how overt the insults were, purportedly coming straight from people watching — and playing — the game.
In a Facebook post, Burkley said also accused referees of penalizing his team without explanation and said his team members and their parents were denied service at a concession stand. Employees said the food was reserved for Bethel Park fans, he said, “but with all that going on, it seemed like another attack.”
At some point, the atmosphere got so tense someone called police, who stood guard on the field. Burkley told PennLive the call came from the opposing team.
The president of the Bethel Park Junior Football League, Paul Currie, said he was looking into the incident.
Saturday’s outing was not the first time Burkley’s players had taken a knee. Earlier in the season, the coach said, the same three players knelt during the anthem and when they did, Burkley challenged them on it.
Their response was eloquent, he said.
“They feel African- Americans are not being treated equally,” Burkley said, adding they cited the fatal police shooting of Tamir Rice, a black boy who was holding a realistic-looking BB gun, in Cleveland in 2014.
“Tamir Rice was a 12-yearold,” Burkley recalled them s aying, “and we’re still 12-year-olds.”
If they wanted to do it again, Burkley told them, he would back them “100 per cent” if they received backlash. “And I knew we would,” he said.
The Wolverines ended up beating Bethel Park 20- 6. In a followup post Sunday, Burkley was upbeat.
“We battled through adversity and remained focused! I love this group! They learned a huge lesson and got a taste of what this cold society can sometimes dish out,” Burkley said, thanking the team’s parents and fans.
“It’s bigger than football! We lead by example and with class!”