One, two, three, n****r!": Outrage over racist basketball cheer chanted by high school team with only one black player

A girls high school basketball team is in trouble in Buffalo, New York after one team member alerted teachers that they used an offensive racial curse in their pregame cheer.

Tyra Batts, who is new to the team and the only black player, was shocked and offended to learn that there was a tradition of chanting 'One, two, three, n*****!' before heading out to the court.

Ms Batts could not believe that her team-mates, who are all white, continued the supposedly long-standing tradition even after she made a point of telling them that she found it offensive.

Offended: Tyra Batts, 15, reported that her all-white team-mates were using the n-word during a pregame cheer and she got in a fight over it

'I said, "You're not allowed to say that word because I don't like that word." They said, "You know we're not racist, Tyra. It's just a word, not a label." I was outnumbered,' Ms Batts told the local Buffalo News.

Apparently the chant has been used by the Kenmore East High School girls team for years, but coaches and school officials never knew because the team would sing the offensive chant in the locker room when there were no adults around.

The issue was only brought to the attention of school administrators after Ms Batts, 15, got into a physical fight with another team-mate at school after an argument at a practice game last Friday followed over the weekend and moved from the court to the hallways.

Shamed: The chant has been a multi-year tradition for the girls varsity team at Kenmore East High School in Buffalo, New York

Before Friday's practice, Ms Batts argued with her team about the chant, and then she 'said something stupid' to one team-mate, who proceeded to call her 'a black piece of [expletive]'. When Ms Batts saw that team-mate at school on Monday, she slammed her into a locker, punched her, and choked her.

Both girls were promptly suspended, and that was when she told school officials about the chant.

Left out: This season, Ms Batts was the only black player on the team

'It was a build up of anger and frustration at being singled out of the whole team,' Ms Batts told The Buffalo News.

Upon hearing the news, the team's coach, Kristy Bondgren, said that she had heard the girls make the occasional comment that Ms Batts was black but had no idea about the chant.

Ms Bondgren, who has not commented on the issue, apparently missed some other barbs, as Ms Batts said that the team-mates would often make racially-charged comments during practice. She said that they often made remarks referencing slavery, picking cotton, and shackles.

'The minute an adult knew, we started our inquiry and investigation,' said Mark P. Mondanaro, the superintendent of the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda school district.



As a result of the allegations, practice is suspended for the team for the week, a game has been postponed, a college visit was cancelled and a previous sportsmanship award was taken away.

All of the girls that participated in the chant were suspended from school for two days and they will all have to sit out one game each over the course of the season. All of the team members will have to undergo cultural sensitivity training.



Ms Batts was originally subject to a long-term suspension over the fight, but that was limited to five days- which she fulfilled this week.



While her father thinks that her punishment was appropriate, he does not think that the school has gone far enough with the rest of the team.

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'This wasn't something that just developed this year. This is something that's been on-going for quite some time,' Raymond Batts Jr. said.

The biggest issue facing Ms Batts now is how, or if, she is going to get back involved in the team. She is petitioning school administrators to allow her to play for the junior varsity team for the rest of the season to avoid the awkwardness that is sure to play out.