Catholic school bans fans over ‘You killed Jesus’ chant
Students barred from basketball playoffs for shouting anti-Semitic slurs during dust-up game with predominantly Jewish high school
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A Catholic high school has punished students for chanting “You killed Jesus” at a basketball game against a predominantly Jewish squad by banning them from a state semifinal playoff.
Catholic Memorial School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, announced in a statement hours before its game Monday night with Cambridge Rindge and Latin that its students would not be allowed to attend, the local CBS television affiliate reported. Catholic Memorial lost to Cambridge Rindge and Latin, 77-73.
The school had considered ending the team’s season early and canceling all remaining games, but instead chose to just prevent students from attending as fans, the Boston Globe reported.
On Friday night, Catholic Memorial students shouted “You killed Jesus” during the division championship game against Newton North High School. The chants were reportedly in response to taunts about Catholic Memorial being an all-boys school, including “Where are your girls?” and “sausage-fest.”
The Catholic fans’ cheer was a reference to Jewish deicide, the charge that Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.
“We are appalled at the behavior of some fans during Friday night’s game and are deeply concerned about why they thought this chant was appropriate at a high school basketball game,” Robert O. Trestan, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s New England Region, said in a statement at the time.
“Hate speech has no place in the stands of any sporting event,” he added.
Catholic Memorial’s president apologized for the chants in a statement a day after the game, while the school administration launched steps “both immediate and long-term” to better educate students about intolerance, according to reports. The announcement came following meetings over the weekend, the CBS affiliate reported.
The Catholic Memorial students were reprimanded and each personally apologized to the principal and shook his hand.
Credit to the CM administration absolutely scolding its fans. Made every fan apologize to the Newton North principal just now.
— Brendan C. Hall (@BHallWrites) March 12, 2016
Meanwhile, the superintendent of Newton North High, David Fleishman, said he would also address his students’ poor behavior.
A Newton middle school has been the target of at least three incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti since October, including one last month. Parents were not notified promptly of the first two incidents, for which the school’s principal has apologized.
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