David Douglas High School in Portland, Oregon, is proud of its diversity and strong athletic program. Several Olympians, All-Star athletes, and NFL running back Claxton Welch are among its alums.
But this season, the football team at the largest high school in the state has faced such blatant and shocking racism that its players were in tears.
“I’ve coached and played all around the nation, and also have played or coached internationally. NEVER have I witnessed this level of racism on the playing field,” assistant coach Marcell Frazier wrote on Instagram.
David Douglas’ football team has competed in three away games against rival high schools in Oregon so far this season. Each game has brought a deplorable barrage of racial hate speech and behavior, according to Frazier. He says Black players have been subjected to monkey sounds, chants of the N-word, and being called King Kong, among other slurs.
In the most recent bizarre incident, a cake was thrown into an audience of Douglas fans to create chaos during a game against Adrienne C. Nelson High School in Happy Valley.
“We had a cake thrown in the stands at players’ parents, as well as monkey sounds being chanted at a coach,” Frazier wrote.
The high school confirmed the incident, calling it “both unsafe and highly disrespectful,” in an official statement. Nelson promised that the ANHS students involved would be held accountable.
“Based on where the cake was thrown, we believe the students were not targeting a specific person or individual but were trying to create chaos amongst the David Douglas fan base, which is inexcusable,” the statement read.
During a game against Forest Grove High School on the edge of the Portland metro area, an unidentified man drove up to the team’s bus after the game and made ape sounds and gestures before driving off. Local police are currently investigating the incident and working to track down the culprit.
The racist attacks continued at an away game at Rex Putnam, an International Baccalaureate High School. Frazier recounted to KOIN6 how racial slurs brought a player to tears. The game came to a stop as he sought out his coach to report it.
Frazier asked him, “‘What’s going on man,’ in tears he says to me, ‘They’re calling me the N-word, coach.’”
After the game was halted, Rex Putnam’s athletics director was informed of the incident, but no one was pulled from the field. Adrienne C. Nelson’s principal, Greg Harris, confirmed that a similar incident happened at his school.
“A David Douglas athlete reported hearing the N-word used on the field. The game was paused, with officials addressing coaches and coaches then addressing players, but the officials were unable to determine where the language originated,” Harris told KATU.
The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) and all three high schools have issued lengthy public statements condemning racism, but for coach Frazier, it’s just not enough.
“If this is the cesspool that the region has become, there’s no way I would feel comfortable raising my future children here. It’s a shame. Our boys and coaches should be focused on the game without being subjected to racist abuse,” he wrote on Instagram. The captain of the Forest Grove football team popped up in the comments, apologizing on behalf of his fellow students and players before saying, “I’m sorry for not doing a better job.”
According to U.S. News and World Report Rankings, 69 percent of David Douglas’ student body identify as minorities, and 73 percent of students are economically disadvantaged. Coach Frazier noted how racist bullying exacerbates their vulnerability.
“Our kids are already facing enough. Just showing up to school is a freaking battle. Just finding food to eat when they go home is a freaking battle,” Frazier told KOIN6. “And then you go out and you see them get subjected to racism and abuse, and you see the tears in their eyes, and it just, you know, it breaks your heart as an adult,” he added.
Frazier is advocating for a change in the OSAA’s bylaws regarding hate speech and is prepared to take it up the chain of command if necessary.
In early October, he returned to Instagram to post House Bill 3409. Tagging OSAA Sports, he wrote, “Please follow this state bill, that your executive director, Peter Weber, testified in support of. If this is not upheld, I will fight like hell alongside state legislatures to add much more teeth to this bill and hold offending schools accountable.”
The bill was signed into law in 2019 in response to years of racist and discriminatory behavior at school events throughout Oregon and is designed to hold the district accountable.
