THE WESTINGHOUSE BULLDOGS RECLAIMED THEIR CITY LEAGUE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BY DEFEATING ALLDERDICE ON OCT. 29. THEN THEY MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.
‘There is no room…for this type of behavior.’ – Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey
On the field, Southern Columbia High School defeated Pittsburgh’s own Westinghouse Bulldogs in the state football championship game in Mechanicsburg, Pa., 37-22.
But for some members of Southern Columbia’s super-majority-White football team, they had to take it one step further off the field.
And that step has them—and the school district—in super-hot water.
THE SIGNS THAT WERE SHOWN DURING A COMMUNITY PEP RALLY FOR SOUTHERN COLUMBIA…
Hours after the victory on Dec. 9, unidentified members of the team taunted the Westinghouse team and used a racial slur, the “N” word, on a social media video that’s gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
Then, photos surfaced online of two racist signs that were made and displayed at a pep rally for Southern Columbia High School prior to the PIAA 2A championship game. Those signs read, “Whip Westinghouse” and “Southern State of Mind.”
Mayor Ed Gainey, who was at the championship game, released a statement on Tuesday, Dec. 13, saying he’s “calling on the PIAA to do better when it comes to how they investigate racism aimed at student athletes. This most recent incident isn’t the first time they have failed to adequately respond and they must do better. If we want to create a world without racism—we must show our kids that we will address it when we see it, and that there is no room in our city, county, commonwealth, or country for this type of behavior.”
Mayor Gainey congratulated Westinghouse on its historic season as the first City League team to make it to the state title game since Perry in 1997. Perry is the only City League school to win a Pa. state football championship, in 1989.
Pittsburgh Public Schools, as a district, responded to the disturbing video and signs saying that “we are greatly dismayed and hurt by the images. This type of egregious and unsportsmanlike behavior is unacceptable.”
PPS said it reported the displays to the PIAA, or Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, “for immediate action and investigation and will follow up with an official report in writing. We are focused on the needs of any student impacted by the images…”
Typically, the PIAA attempts to let schools/districts dish out punishment for transgressions or, in this case, racist behavior. On Monday, Dec. 11, the Southern Columbia Area School District finished its investigation, and announced that it had suspended the students in the social media video “from participation in any extra-curricular activities for a period of one calendar year.”
The school district, which is located in Catawissa, Pa., between Scranton and Harrisburg, added: “Our investigation also found that the video posted by one of our players was part of a disturbing viral TikTok trend. Although other teams in our state and in other states have posted similar videos, including the 3A PIAA State Champions (Belle Vernon), the video posted by one of our players is wholly unacceptable. The students responsible for the video have received school discipline in accordance with our student handbook.”
The lengthy statement from the Southern Columbia Area School District also said that the signs hung during the pep rally “were not intended to carry racial connotations. Several of the slogans showcased as part of this community event were used in previous competitions across different years, sports, and opponents; some were copied from media headlines of previous years’ state title wins. While it may not have been the intent to communicate racially insensitive messaging, we recognize that these messages may have still been hurtful to others. The District will be instituting additional social training programs highlighting ways to avoid language that has the potential to be misinterpreted or insensitive.”
A Courier data analysis found that Southern Columbia High School has roughly 400 students, with 1 percent identifying as Black. The borough of Catawissa has about 1,500 residents, with less than 1 percent identifying as Black.
PPS SUPERINTENDENT DR. WAYNE WALTERS HANDS THE CITY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY TO WESTINGHOUSE HEAD COACH DONTA GREEN. (PHOTOS BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
Westinghouse, of course, has a majority-Black football team and school. Though they have won City League titles before (3 in the past 4 years), this year was the first time they made it to the state championship game. It’s been a beacon of pride for the team, the Homewood community, and its thousands of alumni, including notables like former Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh CEO Esther L. Bush, educator Helen Faison (who was Pittsburgh’s first female African American superintendent in PPS), Tuskegee Airmen Marshall Fields and Thomas Gunn, and real estate giant Robert Lavelle.
“I am proud of the young men who represented our great city at the state championship,” Mayor Gainey said. “Their success on the field deserves recognition and I was proud to be with them at the championship game.”
WESTINGHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH DONTA GREEN, left, with members of the team that went all the way to the state title game, Dec. 9. (Photo by Ben Tenuta)
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