Racial slur prompts Mass. high school to end football season

The FBI is investigating a possible hate crime against a biracial high school football player.

Racist graffiti was found scrawled on his Massachusetts home last week. His family believes his own teammates may be responsible. Now, the school district is taking extraordinary action.

In addition to that graffiti, CBS News' Elaine Quijano reported on "CBS This Morning," school officials are also looking into another alleged racist incident. Citing safety concerns, the district stood by its decision to cancel the last game of the season.

At the Lunenburg school committee meeting Wednesday night, the Blue Knights' football season was not on the agenda, but it was the topic almost everyone wanted to discuss.

Evan Valliere, a Lunenburg High School football player, said, "Not letting us play our last game makes the rest of the world outside of Lunenburg assume that we are guilty."

Anne Nash, another meeting attendee, said, "It doesn't make sense to me to cancel a game that's a tradition for these kids."

The move comes just days after the parents of 13-year-old Isaac Phillips - a fullback on the junior varsity team - found a spray-painted message on their home reading "Knights don't need..." the N-word.

Isaac said that was not the only harassment he has had to endure. Recently, his cleats were thrown in the trash and his bicycle tires slashed. The school district decided to forfeit the rest of the season.

Phillips said, "It doesn't scare me, but, like, it's just, like, a very weird feeling, like, knowing that someone close to me would have did this."

Isaac's father, Anthony Phillips, believes canceling the game is the right decision.

He said, "These past two days, it's like we felt like it's our fault. And we didn't ask for this."

Asked how the team not playing helps, Anthony Phillips said, "My hope is it adds enough pressure that, you know, the person that did this steps forward."

The district is also looking into claims that members of the Blue Knights called opposing players the N-word at a recent game. Given the active investigations, school officials said it would be inappropriate for the team to play the rest of its games.

In a statement, the district said, "To Isaac Phillips and his family, we are deeply sorry and will as a community continue to support you. We assure you and our entire community that we will continue to work to ensure that hate has no place in our schools."

The Lunenberg school committee says the investigation into the racist graffiti is focused broadly and not limited to members of the football team.

Watch Elaine Quijano's full report above.