Dwight Morrow: Racial healing, understanding won't come from punishment | Opinion
I’d never condone violence or poor sportsmanship on a playing field. I’d never excuse the hurling of racial slurs or claim that using them in “trash talk” is acceptable in interscholastic sports regardless of whether it’s a past practice or not. And in case you’re wondering, there should be consequences for that which transpired between the Dwight Morrow and Dumont boys basketball teams at their Feb. 7 game. But, just as importantly, proportion and proper perspective matter.
A tense fight amongst spectators was captured in a 51-second video at a football game between Jackson Memorial High School and Brick Memorial High School minutes prior to Jackson winning the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Central Group IV State Football Championship in 2015. When asked about the fracas, Interim Brick School Superintendent Richard Caldes captured the incident this way. “The actions of a small group [do] not represent what the district and the town is about.”
That which was characterized as a “girls basketball riot” occurred during a University and Newark Tech game in January 2020. Video captured upward of 40 people brawling on the court. Both the New Jersey Department of Education and New Jersey courts became involved in a situation that state Sen. Paul Sarlo, a NJSIAA Commissioner, blasted as “unprecedented” for allowing interscholastic sports to get entangled with both the courts and politics.
In January 2022, a fight broke out during a wrestling match between Gateway/Woodbury and Timber Creek. A questionable call by a referee led to both teams, wrestlers and coaches, storming the mat. Video footage showed a barrage of punches thrown by several wrestlers and even flowing onto another wrestling mat.
Why do I mention these incidents? Is this “what-about-ism?" No. These incidents are referenced because that which happened at the Dwight Morrow-Dumont game pales in comparison. Further, none of these incidents resulted in such a heavy-handed punishment as meted out by Dwight Morrow administration that involved canceling the team’s season.
I’m a 38-year Englewood resident. My family and I moved here from Norwood because we wanted to live in a more diverse and vibrant community. That move became the right one for our family. Over time, I’ve come to know and like many of my neighbors. In fact, I like to say that “we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers here in Englewood.”
So, it should be obvious that I care deeply about young people and Englewood as well as that which we’ve all experienced coming out of a global pandemic. I’ve no interest in assigning blame. Instead, these experiences have led me to call upon us all to look at these young people compassionately. Not some of them, all of them.
All of our children have lost so much during the last three years post-COVID-19. They’ve been isolated in their homes, unable to go to school and unable to return to even a small degree of normalcy until quite recently. So, while there appears to be wrong on both sides here, the more pressing matter is that these are young people deserving of our compassion.
They desperately need school officials and adults in their lives who are willing to move beyond the harsh, punitive disciplinary actions that too frequently befall boys of color. In New Jersey and nationwide, Black boys receive the most expulsions, out-of-school suspensions and referrals to special education. Why would Englewood’s educators want to continue this pervasive and corrosive practice?
A teachable moment has presented itself here. It’s up to us to use it in a way that promotes racial understanding, reconciliation and healing. In listening to those involved and online, it appears that refs’ bad calls and racist name-calling are longstanding problems for Dwight Morrow athletes. But, as the legal foundation of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka clearly affirms: "Racism can only be eradicated through human interaction; honest conversation and the desire to see humanity in each other."
In fact, we all need and deserve that.
Dierdre G. Paul is an education scholar and is Englewood Republican Municipal chair.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Dwight Morrow basketball: Racial healing won't come from punishment
