Aww, come on. It's just a word...

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/New-York-girls-hoops-team-suspended-over-racist-chant-121011

Members of the Kenmore East High School girls high school basketball team have apparently been using the n-word in a pre-game chant for a while, though the story doesn't specifiy how long. They would wait until the adults were out of the room to do it and nobody caught on at first.

One problem for these ignorant little idiots. One of their teammates, Tyra Batts, is African-American.

"I said, 'You're not allowed to say that word because I don't like that word,'" Batts told the paper. "They said, 'You know we're not racist, Tyra. It's just a word, not a label.' I was outnumbered."

Are they actually that stupid?

This led to a brawl, for which Batts and one of her teammates were both suspended, but eventually the administration found out about the chant and gave all of the players who took part a one-game suspension and a two-day suspension from school. They also have to go through cultural sensitivity training.

No word if Batts' suspension was upheld, but I'm betting it was. More importantly, no word of how long this went on with the teachers and coaches failing to catch it.

 

Kids learn from adults.

 

No question, and I'm just as concerned with the behavior of the adults here. They allowed Batts to be put in a terrible situation.

Doesn't mean the kids in this case aren't ignorant jackasses.

 

Where was the coach when this "pre-game chant" was going on?

 

The superintendent and principal apologized. I'm assuming the girl's punishment was taken away.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/New-York-girls-hoops-team-suspended-over-racist-chant-121011

 

I've tried to find something that says it has been but haven't been able to yet.

As to where the coach was: I've seen some coaches who leave the locker room for a moment to give the players a chance to pump themselves up. But they usually stay close enough to the locker room that you should be able to hear the players yelling, so there's no way they should be able to claim ignorance.

 

I think that's the same one I initially posted. It doesn't make it clear that they took away the suspension for fighting. I can definitely imagine adminstrators saying that despite the reason, fighting still is not acceptable.

 

I'm sure Batts' teammates thought she was being uppity.

 

No adults knew about it!?! Yeah, I'm buying that. Sure. OK. You bet.

 

Stephen A. Smith is a cheerleader?

 

Yep!

 

They must be hanging around SportsJournalists.com, knowing how much that word is used so flippantly here.