So much for the traditional Thanksgiving football game — or the remainder of the football season, for that matter.
Lunenburg Public Schools Superintendent Loxi Jo Calmes said the Massachusetts high school has stopped its football program, effective immediately, after learning a player’s home was spray-painted with a racial slur, Fox News reported. Technically, the team forfeited the rest of the season, she said.
The slur contained the N-word, and was discovered last week on the home of a 13-year-old freshman player. The boy’s father is black and his mother is white, Fox News said.
The specific message, MyFoxBoston.com reported: “Knights don’t need [expletive].”
Civil rights activists rushed to express outrage.
“This brazen attack on the home of a high school football player warrants everyone’s condemnation,” said Anti-Defamation League regional director Robert Trestan, in a statement reported by Fox News. “This case is indicative of how school bullying can quickly escalate to a hate crime and civil rights violations, making it a community wide concern.”
Meanwhile, local police Chief James Marino said in The Boston Globe that an investigation is continuing, and authorities have reached out for assistance to the FBI, to state police and to the district attorney’s office.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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