Game fight/Photo courtesy of WCVB
A fight broke out at a high school football game between Georgetown and Roxbury Prep after team members from one side used racial slurs against their opponents.
NBC Boston reported that school officials and police were investigating an allegation of racially abusive language at a game that was played on Sept. 17.
At the game, a fight occurred between team members and coaches, and although the game was canceled, the incident continued to send shockwaves through the community.
“I’m still numb, but this is America,” said Roxbury Prep football coach Jamaal Hunt. “The fact that there was nothing I could do to protect my boys hurt the most. I broke down. I watched racism ruin something that was supposed to be good to them.”
Willie McGinnis, Roxbury head coach and dean of students, maintained that he reported the racial slurs to game officials early on. Just before halftime, one of his players told him a member of the Georgetown team called him the N-word. McGinnis informed the head referee.
The racism did not stop, and tempers boiled over. That is when the fight erupted.
Unfortunately, the slurs increased as the teams returned to their respective locker rooms after the brawl was broken up. Roxbury Prep eventually had to be escorted out of the game by the Georgetown Police Department.
The high school students being subjected to racism is not new. A commenter on Twitter who claimed to work at Roxbury attested to this, and another commenter noted the relative silence of city officials.
“I want to clearly state that the Georgetown Public Schools will not tolerate racism in any form and is working with the Georgetown Police Department to investigate this allegation,” officials from Georgetown said.
Georgetown High School is over 96 percent white, while Roxbury Prep is 97 percent, Black.