Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Utah County parents will meet with black community leaders to discuss what they believe is a pattern of racial slurs being yelled during school-sponsored athletic events.
The community meeting, called by black and biracial students and their families, comes on the heels of a letter of apology sent to a Provo High School player who says she was the target of a racial epithet during a recent game.
While Springville Junior High School coach David Kindrick says his team may be guilty of poor sportsmanship, he was unable to determine if the slur was used by one of his players, according to the Feb. 27 letter to Provo High player Maykela Cox and Provo's freshman basketball coach.
Cox's father, Keith Smith, who says a derogatory epithet for blacks was yelled at his daughter during a game against junior high ninth-graders, said he doesn't feel the letter was sincere.
Although school officials say the matter has been resolved, Smith says racial slurs are too frequent during sports games at Utah County schools.
"We have another generation of kids who are being taught this is OK," Smith said. "It's OK in competition for me to put another person down because of their race."
Kindrick said he doesn't think racial slurs are uttered much at Utah County athletic events.
"From my experience I'd say no," he said. "I just haven't seen it. There's not much diversity."
Utah County is a largely homogenous region. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 1,096 blacks in Utah County. That's 0.3 percent of the county's population of 368,536. Nationally, blacks make up 12.3 percent of the population.
Michael Styles, director of the Utah Office of Black Affairs, plans to attend the community meeting Thursday.
"I think, first of all, we need to get to the heart of the problem and find out what really transpired and find out, you know, as a community, how do we as a community want to address something like this," he said.
The incident at the basketball game wasn't the first time race issues have erupted recently in Utah County.
In January, a Lehi High School basketball coach was accused of using a racist term about the manner in which team members were dancing.
Jeanette Allen, the mother of a Lehi biracial basketball player, talked with the coach and believes he won't repeat the word again.
Allen, who moved to Eagle Mountain about 18 months ago, takes issue with what she believes are lax Alpine School District policies to discipline employees who make such comments.
"One of the things I've noticed moving to Utah from California, people don't realize what is racial," Allen said. "I find that to be the kicker. . . . You can't hide behind the times. You need to know what is offensive and what is not."
And black players aren't the only ones who say they've been targeted.
Maylene Ornelas plays for Mountain View High School's girls basketball team. She moved to Orem from Chihuahua, Mexico.
"I remember in one game, every time I grabbed the ball" fans from the opposite team "started calling, 'USA, USA,' " she said. "Some people were saying 'Mexican loser' (when) I didn't make any three-pointers."
At another game, she said, as she ran toward the basket, she fell down and people shouted, "USA, USA."
"I try to play my game and don't listen. I let my game speak for me," she said.
--
Information from: The Deseret Morning News www.deseretnews.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
