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Sports

Youth Football Team Peppered With Racial Slurs After Players Take a Knee During Anthem

"Those three or four bad apples, however many people were saying that stuff, doesn't represent the town of Bethel Park. But it was bad."

Think about this: That a visiting youth football team of 12 and 13-year-old boys kneeling during the national anthem before a game this weekend would inflame someone in the stands so much that they would say the n-word loudly enough for the players hear it. And that when the players' families tried to get food during the game, they were told that it was for fans of the home team only and they wouldn't be served. And that the tensions during this game escalated so high that police needed to be called to stand on the field to ensure calm and peace.

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Doesn't that prove the reason why those kids felt it was necessary to take a knee to begin with?

The details of this incident come from a game in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, where the visiting Woodland Hills faced Bethel Park in the Parkway Youth Football League.

"It seemed like everything started once the national anthem started," Woodland Hills coach Marcus Burkley Sr., said. "Two or three of my players took a knee. Once they took a knee, you see cameras and people taking pictures. And out of nowhere you hear, 'If the little N-word want to take a knee, they shouldn't be able to play.'"

That's remarkable and sad. Luckily nothing actually escalated into violence but the rhetoric and intimidation is pathetic on its own. Burkley said his players could hear that they were being denigrated and insulted from the stands.

"It was a sad night, and we were glad to get out of there," he said.

He added: "Those three or four bad apples, however many people were saying that stuff, doesn't represent the town of Bethel Park. But it was bad."

[WPXI]