Tag: NAACP

Virginia high school team cancels baseball season

Kempsville High School baseball team cancels their season.

A high school baseball team in Virginia had their season canceled following disturbing allegations.

According to Kempsville High School (Virginia Beach, Virginia) principal Melissa George, a recent investigation “found that racism, hate speech, and harassment have been an ongoing issue for multiple years.”

John Penn, the varsity baseball coach, was included in the decision according to George.

Details of what transpired to lead to these allegations and the suspension of the season are still emerging. WTKR3 in nearby Norfolk reports that the “allegations appear to stem from the mother of a player who says her son was called racial slurs, including the n-word.”

According to WAVY 10 in Hampton Roads, the school board has referred to this as part of “student disciplinary matters.”

The local NAACP chapter issued a statement about the allegations of years of racism and hate speech:

“We call attention to the ongoing acts of hate and racism within the Virginia Beach Public School System at Kempsville High School and are extremely concerned about how this situation has existed for quite sometime. We applaud the brave young men who spoke up in an effort to advocate for equality within this system. It is unfortunate that racism still exist and that our youth have had to endure its ugly head. It must be stamped out everywhere. It is our goal to ensure that the residents do not live in fear or with undue anxiety, just because they are African American.”

(h/t 13 News Now)

Kempsville ends their season with a 5-13 record.

Chris Conley chimes in on NFL working towards having Black National Anthem played Week 1

The NFL reportedly will play the Black National Anthem Week 1, which means the Jags will have it performed pregame in Jacksonville vs. Indy.

Like many organizations in the nation, the NFL has been taking action to combat the racial inequality and social injustice issues within the United States and has been on record for saying they will continue the fight into the future. That has also led to the probability of the Black National Anthem, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ being sung Week 1 of the regular season, too.

The potential move is one that has caught the attention of many, including Jaguars receiver Chris Conley, who said he felt it was a great way to honor black heritage via his Twitter account.

As many can recall, Conley has been a player at the forefront of battling racism and social injustice since the murderings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and several others. During the Jags’ recent march to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, he spoke about how racial injustices have been foreshadowed and urged those marching to do their part to lead to change.

As for the hymn ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ its history dates back to 1899 when Jacksonville born writer, educator, and NAACP leader, James Weldon Johnson, took the hymn to his brother in composer J. Rosamond Johnson, who constructed the official title. Weldon wrote the hymn after being tasked with coming up with a way to commemorate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Per the NAACP, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ was first sung at the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, where Weldon was a principle at, by 500 children during the year of 1900.

The Jags will be one of the teams who start their regular season at home, as they will be taking on their division rivals in the Indianapolis Colts on Sept. 13. That means the hymn will be performed at its birthplace by someone (or even a choir perhaps) during the pregame process of Week 1’s AFC South showdown.

How can NBA players have an impact on social justice legislation?

USA TODAY Sports talked to the Director of Sports Management at Seton Hall Charles Grantham about how the NBA can impact policy change in America.

USA TODAY Sports talked to the Director of Sports Management at Seton Hall Charles Grantham about how the NBA can impact policy change in America.