I read with dismay the “he said, she said” article on May 20 discussing Hyde School’s decision to remove its basketball team from the Maine Principals’ Association competition. I am disturbed that the tone of the article focused on how and when the MPA became aware of the racial taunts endured by the Hyde players instead of on the fact that no one at that game stood up to stop those bigoted bullies from spewing hatred.

In a separate incident that occurred in Portland a few months ago, a black family was accosted in the Old Port in broad daylight young men in a car who taunted them with racial slurs. Although the incident was talked about on Facebook and was written about by the Press Herald, the telling point was that only one person approached the family at the time it happened to find out if they were OK and to see if he could help.

The passivity that allows such behavior to go unchecked is a fact of life for our citizens who do not fit the white cookie-cutter mold that typifies most of Maine’s population. Maine is not exempt from issues of racism and social injustice. We must speak up for our fellow citizens, no matter their color, ethnicity, sexual preferences or religious beliefs.

It doesn’t matter whether Hyde immediately reported that incident to the MPA. What matters is that no one at that game condemned blatant hate speech as it was happening. Whether we are at a basketball game or walking down city streets, we need to teach our children that shouted slurs need to be condemned and that people subjected to those slurs need to be supported.

Stand up against hate.

Mary Mitchell Friedman

Cape Elizabeth

Copy the Story Link