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High School Football Team Rocked By Disturbing Text Message
Filed under: Sports
High school sports are supposed to turn teammates into friends, sometimes for a lifetime. That's not what happened this season at Centennial High School in Circle Pines, Minnesota.
In November, a white member of the football team was suspended from school and kicked off the team after admitting he sent a racially offensive text message to an African American teammate.
The text was a case study in intolerance and insensitivity -- an image of a noose, a hangman's post and a sign that said "For sale: [N-word] swing set." The student who received it on his phone, Michael Gilbreath II, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he found the text very disturbing.
"I was very shocked. I couldn't believe what I was actually looking at," Gilbreath, a junior running back, told the newspaper.
Michael shared the image with his father, who immediately contacted school officials. "This is a symbol of murder. When people see a noose, they think of slavery and murder," the elder Michael Gilbreath told the Star Tribune.
School officials haven't released the name of the suspended Centennial High student, nor has it disclosed the discipline handed out. Principal Tom Breuning told the newspaper that the violation requires a minimum five-day suspension from school.
Gilbreath and the text's sender had been football teammates for many years – since the eighth grade. Gilbreath didn't recognize the telephone number when he received the text, and messaged back asking the sender for his name. The sender replied, telling Gilbreath not to worry.
Gilbreath's parents then spoke with Centennial High School officials. Soon after, the student who'd sent the offensive text message called Gilbreath to say he was sorry and that he hadn't meant it as a threat.
"I accepted his apology, but it doesn't excuse what he did," the younger Gilbreath told the Star Tribune.
Centennial football high coach Mike Watson relayed a similar message to his team. "I told them that's not what we're about and we're not going to tolerate it," he told the newspaper.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 4)
12-12-2009 @ 3:36PM
Sam said...All those times I faced black kids with knives, large groups, been jumped on while bending down for my gym bag, and had a large black mob armed with baseball bats, clubs, and chains that were yelling words of killing me, the media did not repot it. American media is 100% cowardly. Give both American continents back to the original Natives who have been here for thousands and thousands of years, and everyone else can back to Europe, Asia, or Africa.
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12-12-2009 @ 3:45PM
isaac said...Ashley:
we havent gone through it. and neither have you. how long have the slaves been freed? long enough for everybody to get over it. enough with all the white guilt and the you dont understand because your white.
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12-12-2009 @ 3:48PM
Chris said...Really...its just a joke. If it would have been serious I'm sure it wouldn't have been just a picture. To the idiots talking about racism in the south, check out where this story is from!! Since when is Minnesota in the SOUTH? But speaking of racism why is that blacks are the only ones that get those "free" scholorships out of high school just because their ancestors sufferred. Long time ago...get over it!!!
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12-12-2009 @ 3:49PM
bev said...This is clearly wrong. What I think gets people upset though is the fact that white people are sick and tired of a double standard where black people get special treatment because of their color such as: White people would be put on the carpet right away if there was a United White College. Black people can get special programs to get money off for going to college because they are black it goes on and on. Most of the racial slurs and racial hatred seem to come from blacks yet nothing is done to stop them. Nothing will even come close to being equal unless the black people start realizing its been years and years since slavery and start blaming your own people for selling you to white people. Slavery never affected one single person alive today and you have been given more opportunities than white people because of your skin color. Blacks want this attitude towards them to stop then they should start looking hard at themselves and start changing their attitudes.
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7-01-2010 @ 6:14PM
Michael said...ur a dumb ass hahaha!!! white people are dirty & they treated black people like dogs. we are all human beings. who gave it the right for white people to take blacks out of africa and sell them like property?!!?? u think thats right!!!????? it defiently aint black people fault for that. wow u are 1 crazy person. sad sad sad
12-12-2009 @ 3:58PM
Melody said...I realize what the boy did was wrong,even if he meant no harm. I have to agree with the fact that the Blacks call the White people all kind of names and no one says anything about it. The Blacks are the ones that turn everything into racism. It doesn't matter what the problem is if it involves a Black person and a White person the Blacks are the one that call in the NAACP and here we go marching and screaming that they are not treated right, I strongly believe that if the Blacks would teach their children to love everyone and wouldn't teach them to hate the Whites, we could put an end to the subject of racism.
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12-12-2009 @ 3:59PM
bev said...Its been a long time since slavery and if black people can bring that up as an attention getter and a "feel sorry for me" then I would like to bring up something too. Black people sold blacks to this country and because of it I lost some ancestors that fought to free you. Doesn't that mean YOU OWE US????????????????
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12-12-2009 @ 3:59PM
johnyates766 said...IF HE HAD SENT ME THAT TEXT THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST TEXT OR THING HE WOULD HAVE EVER DONE
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12-12-2009 @ 4:02PM
kevin said...If you want to see evidence of the atrocities committed against blacks by white lynch mobs go to the website www.without sanctuary.org. It is heartbreaking and a part of American History we should all be familiar with.
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12-12-2009 @ 5:07PM
Elizabeth said...Actually, it was your Black brothers who sold you into slavery. Check YOUR history.
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12-12-2009 @ 4:13PM
Jersey said...This message is for Cincinnati and the others who through there comments are themselves racist. First, the fact of the matter is that the 'whites' did not go to Africa and take the slaves. When the various countries went to Africa it was with the purpose to trade in spices, gold, and other things that Africa had to offer, but not people. But, what they saw was that Africa had already had an established system of trade. Yes Africans within Africa had Africans as their slaves. They were the ones who would obtain slaves by going into the interior regions and capturing other Africans for their slaves. The slaves did eventually become a commodity that the Africans would sell to the trade countries. While slavery was both atrocious and horrific it can not be said that the 'whites' were the ones who solely perpetrated this act. The blame should be shared by all nationalities and this includes Africans, as they all should share the responsibility for this as all were complicit.
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12-12-2009 @ 4:13PM
bev said...Kevin : I see you like statistics
Highlights in surveying race crimes = 90 percent of race crime victims are white
1 million white Americans were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by blacks compared to 132,000 blacks by whites survey was taking in 1992
Even though the black population is only 1/7 the size of the white population the blacks have committed 7.5 times the amount of murders etc. blacks are committed 50 times the amount of inter-racial crimes.
Statistics show there are at least 170 million crimes against white people from black people in the last 30 years
Thats just the tip of the iceberg but since i saw you like statistics
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12-12-2009 @ 4:17PM
Arriviste said...Very interesting comments, however I would like to address "Ashley's" naive and appallingly ignorant statement. Does she really think that black people have a monoply on being "badly treated?" Jew's, Irish, Welsh, Scots, American Indians,...etc, etc, have never been at the receiving end of bigotry, abuse,discrimination and the like?
The main difference would appear to be, that virtually all other races, just keep pushing along the road of life, they don't complain that the world somehow owes them something, for the abuse which they receive along the way!
To those of Ashley's ilk, I have walked a lot further being the recipient of blatant discrimination, than merely one day...........and so what? Whomever said that life was going to be easy?
You might even be interested to know Ashley, and Co. That Africans, in Africa, state quite openly, that the worst enemy a black person can have,..............is another black person! Whites don't even come into the equation, except in regard to work.
Ignorance is right up there with flawed logic!
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12-19-2009 @ 11:56PM
Bob said...wow..black people insult whites all the time, but when a white person sayss somthing a little rascist it gets blown out of control. This particular incident took it too far though.
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12-12-2009 @ 4:53PM
Mary Wood said...If the mailing had been sent to an Italian in an Italian neighborhood and referred to it as an Italian swing set, it would have most probably been offensive to the recipient. Ditto for any other ethnic group.
That aside; it is my contention that as long as we have hyphoniated Americans, there will be racial bigotry. Furthermore, it is the hyphonated Americans that magnify the bigotry. I am a second generation American. One set of grandparents were from Germany and the other have an Irish/English background. However, I'm not going to go through the whole list of ancestories when I identify myself. I am an American....not a white American...an AMERICAN and, frankly, so are all those of African descent, Italian descent, Korean descent, etc. When you come to America it is because you want to become American. If you want to hang on to your ancestory, stay in tht native land. If your ancestors came to America and you regret their decission perhaps you should return to that land and check it out. America offers an awful lot of opportunities...not hand-outs...that are your's if you are willing to fight to the top of the list of qualifiers. In other words, learn our language, you came here to become an American, learn to speak the official language. Stop living in the past. Get an education that puts you on the same playing field as everyone else. Many people will tell you that you have the same opportunity to succeed that they do, but it is also true that you will have the same opporunity to fail that they do.
You can be black, raised by a single mother and still become President of the United States. Translation: No more excuses!
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12-12-2009 @ 4:53PM
rockefellafilth said...Oh, AOL is still pushing the race paradigm that does not exist,... the only tging that surprises me here is that they are not summing up the Ghost of Hitler again as to distract form Puppet Obama signing away America's sovereignty in Copenhagen
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12-12-2009 @ 5:15PM
Babygirl said...If it were a white player that received the text it wouldn't have shown him with a noose and he wouldn't have been referred to as a Ni$$er.
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12-12-2009 @ 5:10PM
Destiny said...While I agree that a large amount of blacks are hypocrites that hold that slavery chip in their shoulder and turn everything into a race issue, I can understand one hundred percent how this would be offensive.
Race jokes can be funny. If one is willing to laugh at themselves and not be offended over a minor joke then thats great. I make styreotypical racist jokes all the time to my friends on every race and so do they. It's lighthearted and no harm is intended and no offense is taken.
However, making jokes about murdering someone because of their race like that is crossing the line. That's like sending a picture to a Jew of Aushwitz and saying that it's a summer Jew camp. It isn't funny at all.
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12-13-2009 @ 9:33AM
vern said...well - number one - none of u came over here on a damn boat - maybe your forefathers did - im indian and all of your forfathers both black and white came on this soil and screwed it up for everybody
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12-12-2009 @ 5:15PM
Babygirl said...You say that Blacks should get over it. It's easy for you to say because you have probably never had through the whole bigotry thing. You have probably never been discriminated against. It's so easy when you are on the outside of negativity to have the thoughts and and ideas of other races, not just the Black race. No, it may not be news to you but this kind of hatred needs to be stopped. Young, as well as old, need to realize that the only true Americans are the American Indians. Every one else are foreigners. That includes Whites, Italians, Germans and all others that were brought here against their will (Africans) and those that came here by-way of Ellis Island. So before you tell someone else to go back where they came from, look in the mirror and you will see someone else that needs to go back to where they came from. And remember when you point one finger at someone else, there are three pointing back at you. Ignorance can be overcome with education, bigotry is hate for any other nationality other than your own. This is something you have to chose within yourself to overcome. But in your case, stupidity is something you will have to deal with on your own.
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