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Fitch players, coach mum on offensive term launched at them during game
and BRIAN DZENIS
AUSTINTOWN
After a Brunswick High School football quarterback told his teammates not to use the N-word in referring to Austintown Fitch High School football team members, he received backlash from the people he thought were his friends.
According to Fox 8 News in Cleveland, Rodney Axson, who is black, knelt and prayed during the national anthem to protest his teammates’ use of racial slurs against the opposing team.
Some of his teammates on the predominantly white team apparently were offended by his actions and some have been accused of sending Axson offensive, racist text messages and Snapchats, resulting in local police and NAACP investigations.
Fitch beat Brunswick 27-20 at home Sept 2. Fitch coach Phil Annarella said he had no comment on the matter when approached after practice Tuesday but indicated that he didn’t hear of anything out of order about the game until Monday. He declined to answer the question of whether he addressed the situation with his team.
“How am I playing it? I have no comment. You guys feed on all the salacious stories, and I’m not getting caught up in it,” Annarella said. “You need to talk to the Brunswick people. Nothing happened on our end.”
As practice ended, Annarella made his four captains – J.C. Mikovich, Larry Harrington, Bryce Warmouth and Zack Krohn – available to speak about this Friday’s game against Warren Harding.
When asked about Brunswick, Warmouth spoke first.
“There’s no comment as of right now,” the senior defensive end said. “Again, we have nothing to say about it, and we’re just going to leave it at that.”
Krohn indicated he had no comment as Warmouth spoke. Mikovich and Harrington did not say anything. Warmouth, Krohn and Mikovich are white, and Harrington is black. Fitch has 33 black players on its varsity roster.
Jimma McWilson, vice president of the Youngstown Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said if a similar situation had occurred in Mahoning County, the organization initially would interview the victim, victim’s family and any witnesses to assess the situation.
“Our first priority is the safety and protection of the victim,” said McWilson, who also is chairman of the local NAACP’s Education and Social Justice Committee.
The victim and the NAACP could decide to file a complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission or a federal civil rights complaint.
The organization also would want the institution that represents the victim and its officials to be held accountable.
“That is the responsibility of the institution where the child, in this case the student, goes to school,” McWilson said. “The student is supposed to be protected by the adults that are part of that institution.”
Michael Mayell, Brunswick School District superintendent, released this statement to Fox 8 News:
“I am deeply disappointed that any of our students would participate in its publication. Racial slurs and hate speech have no place in the Brunswick schools, and those found complicit in such misconduct will be dealt with accordingly.”
Austintown School District Superintendent Vince Colaluca said if the roles were reversed, administration would refer to the Fitch student handbook to take disciplinary action.
According to the handbook, students are prohibited from using profane, obscene or vulgar language and harassing, intimidating or bullying another student while under the authority of the school. Disciplinary action is based on “the severity of the offense and can include, but is not limited to, detention, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and/or expulsion.”
Austintown Board of Education President Kathy Mock said she hopes the young people involved use this incident as a learning experience.
Krish Mohip, chief executive officer of Youngstown City Schools, said if a similar incident occurred involving Youngstown students – either as victims or those accused – district officials would investigate the episode and work with law enforcement.
“Cyber bullying is a crime,” he said, adding that language won’t be tolerated in the district.
Colaluca said no contact has been made between Brunswick and Austintown schools.
According to the 2010 census, the Cleveland suburb is 96 percent white and only 1.2 percent black.