Photo Credit: Prep Baseball Report
A 16 year old black student athlete in Rochelle, New York transferred out of the prep school he was attending after a comment from the school’s assistant athletic director that made him uncomfortable. Tony Humphrey, a baseball player said of the Iona Preparatory School incident, “He comes up to me and asked why I was doing track. It never hurts to gain speed,” Humphrey’s replied. It was then the administrator replied that he “gained that speed by running from the police.” He said, “That was racist. There was no reason for him to say that.”
After telling his mother, they made the decision to remove him from the school and to put him in a local public school saying, “I decided to leave, because of my current situation, as I’m already going to [college]. I don’t feel like I have to stay at a program where they’re going to look at me different, or feel uncomfortable at a place I have to go to Monday through Friday.”
Humphrey spoke about other incidents that also went ignored saying, “There were other instances of racism during my freshman year. I took it up with the dean, I took it up with the higher ups, and nothing happened to the other student.”
Dozens of students staged a walkout in support of Humphrey in outrage over what happened. A letter by the school president, Brother Thomas R. Leto went out saying, “behavior that Iona Preparatory does not condone for its students and will accept from its faculty and staff.”
There are some who would say his leaving the school is cowering but not everyone is in the mood to deal with this type of nonsense. Either way, there are plenty of people aware of this situation who will be holding everyone involved accountable so Humphrey has nothing to worry about. It’s going to be taken care of.
