WESTFORD, MASS. (WHDH) -
Wayland High School is refusing to play Westford Academy after Westford students made “racially charged” taunts at a Wayland player during basketball game last month.
Wayland school officials said the taunts were “racially charged,” disparaging, insensitive and disrespectful, and Westford Academy Principal Jim Antonelli wrote in a letter to families that the student section could be heard saying things like “‘pineapple head’ because of the player’s hairstyle, ‘you need to hit the gym’ which is a form of body-shaming, and ‘what does it feel like to be the only black player on the team’ which is clearly racist.”
Westford banned student spectators from games for a week, and this week Wayland Superintendent Omar Easy said it would not play Westford again during the spring.
“We aim to lead by example and model what we expect from our student body,” Easy wrote in a letter to Superintendent Christopher Chew.
In a letter, Chew said he understood the decision and officials were investigating to hold students accountable.
“We take full responsibility for this outrage and want to do our best to support the healing process for the student targeted by this behavior,” Chew wrote.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association said schools are able to make decisions about who they play. Some Westford students said they were disappointed Wayland would not play them.
“I just feel they are putting an unfair umbrella over all of us at Westford Academy, because of the supposed actions of one student we all have to kind of suffer,” said Tadgh Murray. “It’s putting a bad reputation on us that isn’t really fair.”
“I’ve never experienced racism here,” said Malcolm Mujuzi.
But Myles Braverman said his fellow students could’ve taken action at the game.
“I think our students needed to say something. I think people should’ve gone and apologized even if they weren’t the people who said it,” Braverman said.
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