NORTH TONAWANDA, NY (WKBW) — There is upset in the Niagara Falls community over a junior varsity girls soccer game on Thursday night. The JV soccer team played against North Tonawanda High School at the school’s soccer field.
“Anger for sure. A little bit of sadness, but again I thought to myself, ‘Dang, my grandparents went through this,'” said Niagara Falls parent Samika Sullivan.
Sullivan watched her daughter play that night, but what her daughter shared when she got off the field shocked her.
“She said, ‘I’m upset because whenever some of the Black kids walked by they were making monkey noises and I heard the N-word a couple of times.’ And I said, ‘Are you kidding me,'” Sullivan shared.
Sullivan said she heard the Niagara Falls coach ask a North Tonawanda staffer to settle down the kids in the stands yelling what she said were racial slurs. The staffer, according to Sullivan, did not make an attempt to stop the shouting at the NF players on the field.
Other parents who were there, like Quinton Gregory, heard the racial slurs or comments coming from kids in the stands.
“It’s just, it’s disappointment it really is,” Gregory said.
Gregory’s daughter is also a player on the soccer team.
“But I heard some, some negative remarks like ‘kids are criminals’ and some remarks like that,” he added.
Sullivan shared her experience on Facebook and received hundreds of comments and shares. Her daughter even wrote a letter to the North Tonawanda school board about her experience. Sullivan said a board member reached out to her regarding the letter.
“It’s time to address these issues,” she said.
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Niagara Falls superintendent Mark Laurrie said he and the North Tonawanda school district are taking this investigation seriously. They have even interviewed parents, players and coaches.
“I know right up through this morning the superintendent has been in contact with me continuously, and he’s digging to get to the bottom of what really happened,” said Laurie.
Laurie said he planned to meet the Niagara Falls soccer team on Monday to tell them how they handled the situation that happened on Thursday with grace and dignity.
The Office of North Tonawanda superintendent, Gregory Woytila, told 7 News he was not available for an interview, but Woytila did release a statement saying the board of education and staff are investigating.
Meanwhile, parents like Gregory and Sullivan say they hope what happened Thursday proves to be a catalyst for change for the better.
“These sorts of things can change if we do our jobs as parents,” said Gregory.
Sullivan hopes this can be a lesson for the NT community.
“This is about every kid who is a minority of any race having to feel safe when they go somewhere,” she said.
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