BROOKLYN, Ohio – An Ohio high school football coach resigned Monday after his team used racist and antisemitic language to call out plays during a game last week.

Brooklyn High School coach Tim McFarland and his players repeatedly used the word “Nazi” as a playcall in a game against Beachwood High School. Beachwood, a Cleveland suburb, is roughly 90% Jewish, according to the latest survey, published in 2011, by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

The Brooklyn team stopped using the term in the second half of the game after Beachwood threatened to pull its players from the field, according to a statement from Beachwood Schools Superintendent Robert Hardis. However, several Brooklyn players continued to direct racial slurs at Beachwood players during the game, the statement read.

McFarland handed in his notice of resignation Monday morning. Brooklyn Schools Superintendent Ted Caleris said in a statement that McFarland “expresses his deepest regret” and that he and the school apologize for “hurtful and harmful speech” that will “not be tolerated.”

Caleris also stated that Brooklyn High School has been contacted by the Anti-Defamation League of Ohio and hopes to use the organization as a resource going forward from the incident.

Hardis confirmed in a statement that the two school districts are in close contact and that Brooklyn has been “appropriately concerned and apologetic.”

“This is not the first time Beachwood student-athletes have been subjected to antisemitic and racist speech,” Hardis also said. “We always hope it will be the last.”

The statements did not mention disciplinary action toward the players involved.

Antisemitism in the United States has risen significantly in recent years, with no signs of declining, according to a study by Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League. From 2021 to 2022, the number of antisemitic incidents rose by 35%.

  • ZeroCool@feddit.chOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    75
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    “They were just pretending to be racist and antisemitic”

    Yeah, that makes it better…

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      42
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s not about pretending to be racist. It’s about understanding that high school kids don’t understand racism beyond a surface level. Yelling bad thing gets them angry, is probably as far as most the team understood it. Writing off the team as just racist ass holes is just going to push them that way.

      • eatthecake@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        They’re teenagers, not toddlers, they knew the significance of what they were doing, otherwise they wouldn’t have done it. And how does calling them out push them to become racist?

        • ZeroCool@feddit.chOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          And how does calling them out push them to become racist?

          “Doing [X] is actually only going to have the opposite effect” is the tired refrain of idiots pushing agendas. In this case, the agenda appears to be downplaying racism and antisemitism… And that person is bending over backwards to do so.

        • gmtom@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          They understand racism, they just don’t understand that everyone else isn’t as racist as them and that there are consequences for racism.

          Also I guarantee OP was as bad as these kids, hence why he thinks everyone does it and it’s not actually racism.