A northern California high school has canceled its football season after team members were filmed bidding on Black teammates during a mock slave auction. Footage shared on social media showed members of River Valley High School's varsity football team auctioning off Black teammates as part of a prank, CNN reports. About a dozen students were shown "pointing and yelling dollar amounts at three Black students standing in their underwear and up against a wall," per KCRA. Officials with the Yuba City Unified School District launched an investigation after receiving the video on Thursday. River Valley then forfeited a game scheduled for Friday, followed by the remainder of its games.
Students involved in the "unacceptable" and "deeply offensive" incident were barred from playing for violating the student athlete code of conduct, "which they all signed and committed to follow," School District Superintendent Doreen Osumi said, per KTLA. As a result, the team did not have enough players to continue with its season. "They may argue that it was a joke, and they intended no harm," Osumi added of the students. "But the fact is that this is not only harmful, it is disgraceful … and requires us to look honestly and deeply at issues of systemic racism." Some students may face additional disciplinary action while the school works to "identify lessons and programs to help our student body learn from this situation," Osumi said. (More California stories.)
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