Allegations of racial slurs mar youth baseball game – WWLTV.com
KENNER, La. — Controversy is brewing surrounding a travel baseball league after racial slurs including the N-word were allegedly said during a Sunday game in Kenner.
The story gained traction on social media, and now a group of parents said they want to see a coach benched for good.
The City of Kenner confirmed travel baseball leagues lease out the park for games, and this past Sunday, two teams faced off inside the park for a championship game: the Cajun Cannons from Cut Off, La. and the Louisiana Rip of Jefferson Parish.
Charles Jones, who has two kids on the Harahan-based team said it was their first time meeting the Cajun Cannons.
“Everything was going great,” Jones said. “The kids were playing their hearts out on both sides of the ball.”
During the eighth inning, a coach for the Louisiana Rips said he heard a coach from Cut Off say racist remarks towards the Rip players, including the N-word.
Jones said the Louisiana Rip coach informed an umpire overseeing the game who then asked the Cajun Cannons if racial remarks were said, but the coach from Cut Off denied saying anything.
Jones said the racist remarks continued throughout the game.
A Facebook post went viral, demanding the travel baseball league, USSSA, take action and remove the coach from the league. Jones said a photo in the post shows a teammate and a fellow coach consoling his son at the game.
“As the game went on, it wasn’t just the coaches but the players that were coming into the dugout,” Jones said. “They started complaining to our coaches, letting them know that the players were also saying very nasty things to our kids — that young black boys shouldn’t be playing baseball and that they were N-words.”
WWL-TV contacted the coaches with the Cajun Cannons to hear their side of the story as well as officials with the USSSA travel baseball league. Neither returned our calls.
Kenner Police confirmed officers were called to the park following Sunday’s baseball game after receiving reports racist remarks were sparking a disturbance.
(© 2016 WWL)