Youth sports should be fun, especially youth football, which is the most exciting of youth sports. Youth basketball comes in a close second, but youth football is where it’s at. That’s why when charges of racism come up in youth football it’s horrible.
A group of suburban Pop Warner youth football teams are taking themselves out of a league they share with inner city Pop Warner teams. The reasons listed include:
- Intimidating rap music
- Hard hitting football
- Safety of playing on city fields
The suburban youth football teams are predominately white, while the inner city youth football teams predominately black. The charges of racism are being leveled by Dorchester Eagles president Kenny Williams, affiliated with an inner city team:
You can sugar-coat it, but I call it like I see it. I think it’s racist. Black kids hit our kids harder, black kids listen to rap music — it doesn’t make any sense to me.
A letter quoted the concerns of the suburban teams:
Let’s go get some white [expletive]! They also said a black coach from Boston called one of their players, who is Haitian, a ”traitor.”
Geesh. This is youth sports, folks.
Lazar Franklin, president of the South End Titans said it best:
This is about the kids. This is ridiculous.
It is, but at the same time rules are rules. If any of the city coaches are using racial insults to pump up their teams they should no longer be associated with the league.