Utah high school students accused of chanting racial slurs at visiting basketball team
By Bryan Ke
A Utah school district has announced an investigation after receiving complaints that a group of Roy High students began chanting racial slurs at visiting Hunter High players during a basketball match last week.
The incident reportedly occurred during a game between the two high schools at Roy High on Jan. 13. A clip of the incident was shared Thursday on social media.
Several parents and coaches from the visiting school claimed that students from Roy High started barking at a Hunter High Asian American player as he tried to inbound the ball.
Mandee Cossa, the mother of a biracial member of the Hunter High basketball team, managed to capture a video of the students barking from the stands. Cossa told KUTV that even after the barking stopped, the students continued bullying and yelling racial slurs at the visiting players.
They told our other Asian student to go home and eat more rice and they called my son a queer. They called our Hispanic players multiple other Hispanic names that weren’t their names mocking them.
Weber School District condemned the recent incident in a statement, announcing that they are now investigating the racial slurs that were allegedly chanted during the game.
In the statement, Weber School District explained that school officials are now reviewing videos taken during the match and are working to identify any witnesses or students potentially involved in the incident.
Although no other details have been released so far, the statement read that Weber School District will be working closely together with Granite School District in the investigation.
Weber School District prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or racism in our schools, and appropriate action will be taken against any student if it is determined they violated our student code of conduct and district policy (4120 Student Discrimination and Harassment).
Last week’s incident was reportedly not the first time Roy High students have been accused of using racial slurs at basketball games.
“When our coaches and players came out they said, they called them dog eaters because they’re Polynesian and Asian descent,” Halli Taukiuvea, a parent of a Hunter High player, told KUTV, recalling the incident that allegedly occurred at the same gym last year.
Taukiuvea said they had already raised complaints to Roy and Hunter High administrators about the incidents but were left unanswered.
While Hunter High parents, coaches and the school district condemned the incident, some Twitter users slammed the videos, claiming that the students were “barking at everyone, not just the biracial players.”
“They were barking at the inbound pass. The student got the ball back and they didn’t bark then… It’s almost like a small clip doesn’t tell the whole story and you’re just desperate to be a victim,” another Twitter user wrote.
“It is obvious that they are doing this to every player on the sideline no matter the race. Schools around the country have been doing the same thing for months with no racism claims. How is this different? Maybe they should try mooing next game instead,” another Twitter user said.
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