Early Friday morning, an interracial family in Lunenburg, Massachusetts--about 34 minutes north of Worcester, and an hour northwest of Boston--woke up to discover racist graffiti spray-painted on their house directed on their son, an eighth-grader on Lunenburg High's freshman football team.
Andrea Brazier, the mother of Isaac Phillips -- who had been granted permission to play for the school's freshmen and junior varsity football teams -- told reporters her family awoke Friday morning to see their home's foundation had been spray-painted.
"Knights don't need n------," the graffiti said, noting the Lunenburg mascot.
Isaac has also been the subject of bullying incidents while on the high school teams, including having his cleats removed from his locker, filled with water and thrown in the trash can, his family says, according to the reports. The tires of a bicycle he used as transportation home from practice were also slashed, he said.
Brazier is white, while Isaac's dad, Anthony Phillips, is half-black. Brazier immediately called police, who alerted school officials. Later that afternoon, school officials postponed Lunenburg High's game that night against Oakmont Regional. According to WCVB-TV in Boston, the game was postponed when
no one came forward with what they knew about the incident at a Friday afternoon team meeting--at least if I'm reading this right. WBZ-TV in Boston reports that
Lunenburg High won't play another down until officials find out who is responsible.
The FBI is already on the case and investigating it as a hate crime. Police issued a statement offering "our deepest support" to Isaac and his family, and that it's in no way representative of Lunenburg as a whole. It's cold comfort to Isaac, who wants to transfer to another school.
If this is as bad as it sounds, it looks like Lunenburg High's head coach is one of several heads that should roll when this is all said and done.