5 Lincoln-Way East students accused of racist behavior during high school football game
Five Lincoln-Way East High School students are accused of exhibiting racist behavior during a football game in Flossmoor, Illinois, on Friday night.
The Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School District 233 said in a statement that the incident happened at the end of the third quarter during the varsity game against Lincoln-Way East High School.
The school said that five students from that school "made a very bad choice to engage in disrespectful and racist harassment towards HF students seated in the bleachers." The school did not say exactly what the students did. However, witnesses at the game say that the students got onto the field, made monkey noises and gestures.
They said staff acted immediately and removed those students from the property and helped the Homewood-Flossmoor students remain safely in the bleachers.
The school said its leadership and Board of Education are working with Lincoln-Way East leadership and local authorities to consider all options to prevent possible occurrences in the future, including legal options.
"We will not allow this ignorance to distract us from our commitment to excellence and our long history of inclusion and racial respect in our community at-large. We also will not tolerate this type of racism and disrespect towards members of our HF Community," the statement read.
Lincoln-Way East also released a statement apologizing for the incident, saying in part, "The students involved are not members of the football team. We would like to sincerely apologize to the HF community for the behavior displayed by these students. This behavior does not reflect the expectations and standards we have for Lincoln-Way students. The district is taking this matter seriously. We have identified the students involved and will follow through with the district's discipline policies and procedures to the fullest extent."
The school said that since the incident involved students, they cannot disclose the names of the individuals or the disciplinary action that will be taken.
