Identity-Based Bullying in Athletics Continues Without Accountability
Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) condemns the continued inaction of the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) despite high-profile incidents of identity-based bullying and harassment against student-athletes.
In Worcester, the South High Community School girls’ basketball team was the subject of viral racist social media commentary after a game with Andover High School.
Racist posts referred to the girls as:
- “trash”
- “hood rats” and
- “violent animals”
The posts also called on God to “bring back segregation” and made threats to call ICE on the players.
LCR has repeatedly highlighted that racialized incidents at sporting events are particularly damaging and disturbing. Athletics is a space where young people build self-esteem and learn key lessons like fair play, but that microcosm is being corrupted by racism and hate. The Worcester Branch of the NAACP and other local officials have spoken out against the incident and called for an investigation, but those requests remain unfulfilled.
LCR has a pending lawsuit against the MIAA, seeking records about its process for handling discriminatory incidents and related accountability measures. So far, MIAA has not provided meaningful transparency into how it responds to racialized incidents.
In this latest instance in Worcester, MIAA did not provide a meaningful response to community concerns. Despite promulgating rules governing sporting events for nearly all public secondary schools in the Commonwealth, MIAA has failed to mitigate or investigate discriminatory incidents.
Without accountability, student-athletes will remain vulnerable to unlawful identity-based bullying and harassment. LCR urges the Commonwealth and the MIAA to protect our young people.