MA Student Punished For Sitting Out Anthem

A high school football player at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts was suspended from playing after sitting out the national anthem. Though it’s illegal to punish students for engaging in protected speech, the high school reportedly retaliated against player Mike Oppong – a junior defensive back on the high school’s football team – for his protest of racial injustice across the nation.

In a Twitter interview with reporter Carl Setterlund, Oppong explained what why he is protesting:

I’m standing up for the injustice that happens to black people every day, not just cops killing black people. We are disrespected and mistreated everywhere we go on a daily basis because of our skin color and I’m sick of it.

He added that his team mates have been with him on the issue saying, “My teammates have been supporting me the whole way.”

The school administration wasn’t as supportive as his teammates, however.

“My coach just called me a couple minutes ago telling me that the coaches and principals decided that I should be suspended for one game,” Oppong wrote on Twitter.

Sarah Wunsch, deputy legal director at the ACLU in Massachusetts, spoke to media reminding everyone that actions penalizing or retaliating against students for protected speech is against the law.

“In our view, they violated his rights,” she said. “I would suggest  that other members of the team would join them. It’s really important that he’s not alone in this.”

“I think they disapprove of a team member projecting that sort of image for the school,” Wunsh said adding that the ACLU would be in contact with the student soon to protect his rights. “They may not like the image, or the place he did it, but he has freedom of expression.”

According to Black Sports Online (who first reported on the issue) the Doherty Memorial’s principal Sally Maloney made the decision to suspend Oppong.

Attempts to contact school officials at Memorial for comment on the suspension have been unsuccessful. In addition to refusing comment the school’s official football team Twitter account is now locked and inaccessible to the public.

Worcester Publis Schools just released a statement denying allegations the school suspended Oppong saying:

Recently, athletes have displayed silent protest in support of the dialogue on race and equality that continues to evolve in every community across the nation. This weekend, a football player from Doherty Memorial High School knelt down during the National Anthem, joining the many athletes who have silently displayed their opinion.

The Doherty student did not violate any school rule when he peacefully and silently protested during the National Anthem. He exercised his Constitutional Rights without disturbing the school assembly and he is not being disciplined in any way by his actions.

Worcester Public Schools is a rich, diverse community that thrives to maintain open dialogue about the challenges that our community and our country face.

Following the release of the statement earlier this morning Oppong tweeted everyone thanking them for their support in helping overturn the suspension:

Thanks to all your love and support my suspension of 1 game has been terminated! pic.twitter.com/a8RB9c200N

— BLACK LIVES MATTER (@Oppong_5) September 12, 2016

Whether the suspension over the weekend was a thinly veiled threat or an actual punishment the school quickly backtracked on after national attention is unknown. What is known is that until the nation begins to respect the constitutional rights of those protesting injustice, those protests will be needed more than ever.