2024-03-28 12:02:51
Minot Public Schools publicly apologized earlier this month in the wake of what it says was racially insensitive conduct by student fans toward members of the Bismarck High boys basketball team during the championship game of the Division AA West Region Boys Basketball Tournament.
During the same March 2 game, a Bismarck basketball father who has been an advocate for zero tolerance of racial taunting of high school players in North Dakota was ejected from the Bismarck Event Center for his own behavior in the stands.
Taunting of Quinn Austin’s son, Andre, and a teammate last year during a game in Jamestown brought the issue of boorish and offensive fan behavior into the public spotlight.
Since then the North Dakota High School Activities Association has taken steps to address the problem, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation. But instances across the state persist.
Vollmer promised further review, discipline and more education of students on proper behavior. He also apologized “to the Bismarck High players, coaches, fans and community.”
Bismarck Public Schools issued a statement two days later — on the eve of the Class AA Boys and Girls State Basketball Tournament at the Event Center — urging respectful fan behavior at sporting events. BPS did not specifically mention the incident with Minot fans, saying the district wanted to “address a concerning pattern of behavior that’s been observed during recent sporting events in our community,” and that “This issue extends beyond a single school, impacting multiple communities within the state of North Dakota.”
“Oftentimes, members of the Indigenous community have been specifically impacted by this harassment,” the statement said.
One of those incidents was in February, when a handful of youths in the Bismarck St. Mary’s student section dressed up as cowboys for a boys basketball game against the Mandan Braves. St. Mary’s is part of the Light of Christ Catholic Schools system, not BPS.
North Dakota Native Vote Executive Director Nicole Donaghy publicly raised concerns about what she perceived to be racially insensitive mockery by the cowboy-garbed fans. School officials said the fans were taking part in a theme night and had no ill intent. St. Mary’s still put in place a formalized process for prior approval of themes going forward.
State Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, D-Mandaree, who serves on the Tribal and State Relations Committee, earlier this month wrote publicly about a Feb. 9 girls basketball game between Mandaree and Wilton during which she said Mandaree players were subjected to derogatory names and taunting.
Over the past year the North Dakota High School Activities Association has taken steps to elevate expectations for positive fan behavior, and to stiffen the consequence for those who go over the line. The association created a Sportsmanship and Citizenship Committee, put into policy the expectation of appropriate fan clothing at events, created a “Be the Change” sportsmanship public service announcement, and implemented a zero-tolerance policy for racial taunting — immediate removal from a facility.
Finley-DeVille has questioned whether that policy is being adequately enforced in all arenas.
All of the changes came about after Andre Austin and another Native American player on the Bismarck High team endured racist taunts during the Jan. 31, 2023, game in Jamestown. Video surfaced afterward on social media of monkey noises and war whooping coming from the Jamestown student section when the Native American Bismarck players handled the ball. The video put the issue of fan behavior under a microscope.
The Austin family and the parents of the other athlete in May 2023 filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. That investigation is ongoing, according to Tim Purdon, the families’ attorney. Officials with the federal office have declined comment to the Tribune, citing an open investigation under the Civil Rights Act.
Quinn Austin — a member of the 1998 state champion Standing Rock High School boys basketball team — became an advocate for stricter policies on racist behavior at games. He told the Tribune in March 2023 that he himself had been subjected to racial taunts during his high school and college playing days, at Bismarck State.
Austin was ejected from the Event Center stands by a referee during the March 2 WDA championship game.
BPS Activities Director Dave Zittleman, the tournament manager, did not respond to Tribune requests for comment. BPS spokesman Steve Koontz said the district “will not be issuing a comment at this time.” He did not elaborate and did not respond to a request for further comment.
Purdon also did not give details, but said “Equating alleged poor sportsmanship with the use of racial slurs directed at children is ridiculous.”
“It borders on incomprehensible that somehow it was the North Dakota parent who has spoken up most loudly demanding a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for racial slurs directed at children at NDHSAA events who was targeted for removal at a game in which Native student athletes were yet again subject to racial slurs,” Purdon said.
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