Lake Worth football to play, but some players are boycotting game after racial incident
The Lake Worth school district said its varsity football game scheduled for Friday night will go ahead as scheduled, but the Bullfrogs will be without one of their top players who is looking for sanctions to be taken against a teammate who hurled a racial slur at an opposing player last week.
Senior Kam Kimble, a running back who leads the team with 10 touchdowns, has refused to take part in practices or games until he believes suitable action is taken against one of his own teammates who directed the N-word at a Fort Worth Polytechnic player on Sept. 25. Kimble, who is Black, is one of four or five players who have opted not to travel to Wichita Falls Hirschi for the 7 p.m. game.
“This week has been crazy. We’ve never been through this as a team,” Kimble said. “I was upset about it, and I know some of the others were upset about it. It’s a lot bigger than football. I’m not doing this to get my name or face out there. Something needs to change. We need some change and then I’ll be back.”
Lake Worth ISD was notified of the Sept. 25 incident over the weekend and began an internal investigation. On Monday, Kimble and all but three teammates protested practice.
According to Kimble’s mother, Rachel Martinez, the incident was reported, but it was initially dismissed.
“The team followed protocol and reported it, but it was discredited which is exactly what happens in society. You look at young Black men, they can’t be telling the truth because they’re Black,” she said. “They continue to be profiled and stereotyped and all of that has to stop. I want discipline to the person that said it and I want discipline to the person that discredited it.”
On Wednesday, the investigation concluded and LWISD released this statement:
“Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the student’s identity and corrective actions cannot be shared with students, families, or the public. Lake Worth ISD understands the importance of having a safe environment for students and staff that allows for honest conversations.”
Kimble said that he was also called the same racial slur by an opponent during Lake Worth’s game the previous week, at Venus on Sept. 18, but as far as Kimble or Martinez knows, no actions against Venus were taken.
“I was really upset with what happened in Venus. I didn’t do anything to the other person and he called me a slur,” Kimble said. “Coming back the next week to hear a teammate saying it to another player, it’s disappointing. For it to be one of your teammates, it hurts.”
Added Martinez, “What happened in Venus was discussed by the boys. The entire team knew about it, they were equally upset. If you were in that locker room, you knew what happened and what was said. But to have our own teammate, who was in that locker room with you all week, decide to use that word, it hurts and it reopens a lot of wounds.”
The player who said the slur to Polytechnic has since apologized, but Kimble felt the apology was forced and insincere.
“I want to apologize for my teammate’s actions. That is not what we represent,” Kimble said. “And, to anyone else going through this and is scared of speaking up, they should because [otherwise] it will get thrown under the rug.”
In an effort to bring unity to the program, LWISD brought in guest speaker Nathanial Hearne to the school to talk to players and parents. About 10 parents showed up to the school for the session Wednesday night.
Hearne has been named Outstanding principal of the year multiple times, including at L.D. Bell High School in 2008. He was also a football coach at Odessa Permian and was a part of the team that was featured in “Friday Night Lights.”
“The student-athletes have shown a lot of maturity during this time, and true leaders have emerged this week. We are proud of these young men and the steps they have taken to heal their fractured team,” said Lake Worth schools superintendent Rose Mary Neshyba.
Added head coach Tracy Welch, “Although we will continue to work at building trust and repairing relationships, I believe this exercise was a good first step for our team to begin moving forward.”
But both Kimble and Martinez do hope that some change comes from this discussion.
“We’ve had to readdress some things we been talking about all summer,” Martinez said. “He’s been racially profiled more than once. When you continuously face racism and hear things like that, it brings back a situation we were trying to get past.
“We’re a big football family, and I’m sad we won’t see him play his senior year. We’ll sit out a game and if it leads to multiple games, I’m OK with that. This is part of the healing process as well.”
