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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 4 of 4)
12-12-2009 @ 6:59PM
lisa said...to bev and everone else saying its ancestors and everything goin through slavery, you are probably not african american and dont realize daily hatred going on everyday, we are one of the races most discriminated against and not ALL white people fought to free slaves, most of them were slaveowners so we dont owe you anything. There shouldnt have been slaves in the first place and not every single black person gets a scholarship cause people are sorry for them. anyone of any race can get a scholarship when they're good at something. my dad got a scholaship for basketball cause he was GOOD at it believe it or not and got into the nba cause he was talented at it not because he was black
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12-15-2009 @ 9:01PM
Sam Johnson said...Lisa, just so you know, it was not "most" white people being slave owners, as you say. It was a MARGINAL percentage of the population...just FYI
12-12-2009 @ 7:27PM
What?! said...Well, I agree that it was uncalled for. I could imagine how the black boy feel Very hurtful. We all need to rid of racism. No need to be obsessed with the past. 'Forgive and forget' would expand your life span. Hatred and anxiety, according to the medical fact, would cut down your health AND develop health problems: cancer and other diseases. Be very careful. God designed our bodies to love and be happy. I believe it.
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12-12-2009 @ 7:49PM
mikevickisadirtyfilthyscumbag said...99% of blacks in this country are racist and openly hate whites, but I guess thats OK to you self-hating, unthinking tools with your pathetic white guilt.
I'm proud to be white and the rest of this country better wake up and take some pride soon before they start putting us in jail for saying n igger. Or maybe they'll tax us more for being white or better yet the spooks can take over the country and watch it all go to hell just like South Africa.
Oh and by the way, I do hate most blacks in this country, not because of the color of their skin, but because of the color of their souls. They are generally a savage, evil race who have no respect for life, whether it be human or animal. A black man is almost 10 times more likely to commit a violent crime and there is no excuse for that. People arent a product of their environment, their environment is a product of them. Think about it.
The whole slavery thing is also a crock of sh!t. They should be thanking our ancestors for dragging their people out of Africa, otherwise they'd be starving to death right now in mud huts with 12 babies and AIDS to boot
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12-12-2009 @ 7:38PM
sportespaz14 said...I bet you two mules and chicken that the receiver of the offensive text was NOT African American, but rather black. If it is later revealed that he was in fact born in Africa, or even if his parents were born in Africa, then I will stand corrected. This "African American" PC stuff is ridiculous. I don't walk around identifying as Irish American or German American, I'M AMERICAN! And if my skin color must be denoted, then I am WHITE! And......while we are on the subject of the N-word, then only time I hear that word nowadays is from BLACK people. Double standard, pure and simple. And yes, I have witnessed a group of black kids in my high school harrassing white kids and the school does nothing about it. Doesn't make it right, but the punishments really should go both ways.
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12-12-2009 @ 7:58PM
def1985 said...I do think that what that football player did was rude, BUT I don't think that some people realize how prejudice African Americans are.My daughter is multi-racial(not African American).She looks white though. Her Boyfriend is African-American. His mother won't let him come to our house. She won't let him come out to our Rich White Neighborhood. She won't let him go to our mall. She won't let him go to our movie theater. She did at first and there were no problems whatsoever. We live in an educated wealthy mostly white neighborhood.She only lets him go to neighborhoods were there are lots of African Americans and a high crime rate.She goes to a African American Only Church. She only has African American Friends.She even made a rude comment to me on the phone about her ex having a white person on his side of the family.Her daughter turned out light and they call her what"Light Bulb" Nice huh.She even belongs to an all Black music group called women who walk on water. (I thought Jesus did that but ok).She is Rude as Hell. Treats our family like Crap! We have welcomed her son with open arms. I've asked this woman repeatedly why she is doing this. She answers I don't have to tell you. She screams at me on the phone. She's hung up on me before. She is crazy. And to top it off she considers herself a super Christian.When my daughter went to a dinner with all of her "church family" they looked at my daughter like and her boyfriend like "oh sh@t.They were polite but my daughter said she could tell they didn't like whites. ps. her son is nothing like her and sweet as can be. Go figure~
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12-12-2009 @ 8:08PM
miss amanda said...IT'S SO SAD TO SEE THIS GIVEN THIS KIND OF MEDIA ATTENTION.... THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THAT KID WANTED...YOU'RE FUELING HIS FIRE....
AND IM DEFINETLY NOT SAYING HE WAS IN THE RIGHT....BUT WHAT'S THE WHOLE STORY HERE? WERE THEY GOOD FRIENDS? WAS IT REALLY JUST A JOKE? I MEAN AS FUNNY AS IT MAY NOT SEEM TO US....BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS WHO KNOWINGLY MUTUALLY LOVE AND RESPECT EACH OTHER....BELIEVE IT OR NOT...MAY FIND HUMOR IN IT(IF THAT'S THE CASE) WHICH I HIGHLY DOUBT....
AND IF THAT'S NOT THE CASE, THEN WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD SAY SOMETHING SO HORRIBLE?!?
COME ON......WHAT EXACTLY WOULD YOU ACCOMPLISH BY BEING THAT IGNORANT? SERIOUSLY.....
PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE....AND IF YOU ARE A TERRIBLE ONE....NO MATTER THE COLOR, GENDER, ORIENTATION ETC....
SIMPLY PUT YOU EITHER SUCK OR YOU DON'T......
IT'S YOUR MORAL FIBER THAT DEFINES YOU....
NOT YOUR MELANIN LEVELS....
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12-13-2009 @ 1:58AM
Sam said...Oh, my God, that poor kid. I hope he doesn't end up scared someone's actually going to hang him, and I hope that teammate gets the pants sued off of him for hate speech (text?).
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12-16-2009 @ 3:57PM
saj1090 said...rawr
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