On February 7th, the Lincoln High girls basketball team traveled to Fremont for a game. What happened next is unclear.
There are accusations of racist taunts by Fremont fans against the Lincoln players, but the evidence presented in this Facebook post by Lincoln High's coach is just that there were some fans wearing Trump shirts and hats, and some guy walked by the team and promoted the low unemployment numbers among blacks and Latinos.
Also to be considered: Fremont was apparently having a "Patriotic Theme" to that game. Trump is our President, and some people like him. There are non-white players on Fremont's basketball team, too, making them multiracial like Lincoln High.
It's said that Lincoln's players engaged with Fremont's fans after the game, and a fight broke out. Media reports indicated Lincoln's player threw the first punch after Fremont fans threw things at her team. Fremont's principal apologized for the school's behavior in the days that followed.
Lincoln High's coach, Dominique Kelley-Johnson, posted this on Facebook after the game:
Friday night we were playing at Fremont High and quietly frankly we were on our way to getting blown out. Last year this team beat us by 47 points. Anyone who has had the privilege to watch my team play knows I’m unbelievably hard on them. I hold them very accountable both on and off the court because I want them to be prepared for everything life will throw them in the real world. And I honestly, in this America you have to be better than average as a black person. After the game an altercation occurred between some of our players and their students. The part about this that’s so disappointing is we fought back and ended up losing by 2. But unfortunately because of their experience, that’s forgotten.
It was one of the more hostile environments I’ve experienced with high school athletics and I saw several students wearing Trump 2020 shirts and hats. We had a grown man walk up to our players prior to the game and tell them, “Black and Latino unemployment rate is the lowest it's ever been." Guess what kind of hat he had on? Several of my players and student managers were distraught and balling by the altercation and so was I, because in that moment, I was stunned and I felt like I failed to protect them.
CLICK HERE for my thoughts on this mess from this morning's show, which questions whether wearing a MAGA hat is "hostile," why a coach would let her players engage with the opposing crowd and excuse this behavior because she saw Trump shirts, and the overall deterioration of civility at youth sports (mostly by parents).