Team Suspended For Using Racial Slur In Pregame Cheer

New York Daily News, Nina Mandell

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/buffalo-high-school-girls-basketball-team-suspended-racial-slur-article-1.989095?localLinksEnabled=false

A Buffalo girls basketball team was suspended after the players allegedly used a racial slur as part of their pregame cheer.

Tyra Batts, the sole African-American on the Kenmore East High School’s squad, told the Buffalo News that her teammates would hold hands before the game, say a prayer and then shout “One, two, three (n——).”

The practice came to light when Tyra was suspended for getting into a fight about the use of racial slurs during practice, according to the newspaper.

She said that she was alarmed by the cheer, but had been outnumbered and told that the use of the slur was just a team tradition.

“I said, ’You’re not allowed to say that word because I don’t like that word,’” she told the newspaper. “They said, ’You know we’re not racist, Tyra. It’s just a word, not a label.’ I was outnumbered.”

The 15-year-old eventually exploded after a practice when a teammate called her a ’black piece of (expletive).’ She says she got into a fight with the girl later in school.

“It was a buildup of anger and frustration at being singled out of the whole team,” she told the newspaper.

Tyra’s suspension was shortened after the principal learned of the racial allegations. At least a dozen girls were suspended.

Some of the team’s former players who took to Twitter seemed to have little knowledge of any “tradition” the team had of racial chants.

“You (racist) b—-,” a 2010 graduate tweeted. “Glad I’m out of there.”

Another one added, “Haha oh yeah that Ken East crap that’s going on. I want no part in that.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/buffalo-high-school-girls-basketball-team-suspended-racial-slur-article-1.989095#ixzz1gLQBzzM7