High school football brawl triggered because of racism. Put up the picture full of masks. Well, what team do you think gets ultimately punished? I'm sure you guessed it right. In Syracuse, New York, a city school official or city school officials [00:00:16] believe that race played a central role in a high school football brawl. Between the Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler and Watertown teams on Friday, October 13. Syracuse City School District Superintendent Anthony Q Davis, okay? [00:00:33] Shared that the crowd at the game instigated the fight in the second quarter, leading to the cancellation of the game. And for the PSLA Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler to forfeit its next critical game. [00:00:49] So cause and effect is being established by Mr. Davis, okay? It's not the kid's fault, Davis said, and I quote, it was coming from the field and [00:01:05] there were specific terms used in word, coon, monkeys. And all of those things were used against kids on the field, Davis said, adding the comments were directed at the file of players and their parents at the game. [00:01:21] According to Syracuse.com, as the team started to fight on the field because of this instigation taking place, officials made the decision to just end the game. Just over 1 minute remaining in the first half, [00:01:40] fowler was winning 22 to 7 over Watertown high school. Officials declared the game no contest, that means neither team, one composed of white players and [00:01:56] the other predominantly black, would face any penalty, okay? However, for one of the schools, this incident cast a shadow over the entire season. Initially, the school official stated that the team would forfeit its section [00:02:14] three class A two playing game against Nottingham on Friday, October 20. The move allowed Nottingham to advance directly to the sectional tournament. The forfeit also ensured that PSLA Fowler would not be able to go on to the season's big games. [00:02:31] Put up the athletic director, so we have the Fowler athletic director Jolene Todd said in a statement, quote, I want to start by saying that I'm very disappointed. In our team and their reaction to the Watertown team and fans during Friday night's game. [00:02:48] We do not condone that type of behavior and our student athletes will be held accountable, she added. No matter what is said or done on the field during a game or before it, or even after, it is never okay to respond the way our players did. [00:03:03] But make no mistake about it, they are not alone in this. They were pushed to the brink and unfortunately responded. Keep a picture up I'm gonna need you to shut the hell up in the future, when there's a situation like this happen. [00:03:19] Meanwhile, Watertown superintendent so what Watertown got to say, okay? Everybody's racist according to the narrative, even from people who were not necessarily for the predominantly black team. Yes, people were saying n word and all kind of stuff to them. [00:03:38] So the Watertown superintendent, Dr. Larry Schmiegel, said in a statement, quote, allegations of the use of racial slurs are contrary to the goals. And mission of the Watertown City School District and continue to be investigated. [00:03:54] Any incident that is found will be promptly addressed pursuant to the district's code of conduct. This is an ongoing investigation, and we are not able to come in further. [00:04:09] The Water City School District is, however, fully committed to providing an environment that is free of harassment and intimidation for our student athletes. As well as all visiting athletes and spectators. [00:04:25] You see, he just said a whole bunch of nothing, and it works. You see, he knows good and damn well, what happened at that game because he knows the community he served. [00:04:42] He understands that there was bigotry racism. He didn't call it out, he didn't say, you can't do this. We won't allow this, we will punish this. No, he's we're gonna investigate, look into it, get back with, at a time yet determined by me, and guess what? [00:05:00] The media will turn away. There's no action, no penalty, no punishment. And they get to be racist and win games. Allow teams to advance because of a forfeit required by the referees, and at the end of that, the black, [00:05:20] predominantly black team gets penalized. The superintendent, I'm very happy, put him back up again. We got to highlight good leadership. Students deserve to have advocates. This man stood as an advocate, [00:05:35] contrary to what this particular athletic director said. The superintendent was an advocate for these students. I do not believe the athletic director was sir, if you have the power, I would recommend you fire the director, because obviously you and [00:05:51] the director are not on the same page. You're the superintendent of school. You're in charge. We appreciate your leadership. All right, just sister thoughts here. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, these things are so disappointing because something like this can change the entire trajectory of a kid's life. [00:06:08] It can affect whether or not they get recruited for teams, whether or not they get scholarships for college. It can open a lot of doors and other things I'm sure that I'm not even thinking about. It's such a waste, these kids work so hard and train so hard to get good at a sport, and then it's all taken from them within a moment just because someone else [00:06:26] was hateful. And maybe an argument can be made that they were engaging in the fight. And I'm sure that maybe there are consequences for that, whether or not there should be, given the circumstances. But it's also putting unrealistic expectations on people, especially teenagers, to expect them to face blatant racism like that and [00:06:44] not react emotionally. Not only that, but you're punishing them for not knowing how to deal with things that I'm assuming most adults, especially these white adults, can't even relate to. >> Speaker 1: That's right, very well said. Experiences, exposures and environment create the social construct of who we are. [00:07:03] And when you lack, you have to be very careful before responding as that athletic director did.