Brunswick High School Football Player Receives Backlash for Protesting During National Anthem

BRUNSWICK, OH — Brunswick senior quarterback, Rodney Axson took a stand, rather, he took a knee during the national anthem at a September 2nd high school football game to protest racism.

Following San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick's example, Axson was the first high school football player to protest the national anthem, according to nydailynews.com.

Axson says that he didn't plan the protest, but an incident prior to the September 2 game against Austintown Fitch, a mostly African American school inspired him to do so. Before the game, he overheard some of his teammates referring to the opposing team as "n-words."

Axson confronted them and they told him that the slur "wasn’t meant for you." Axson disagreed, telling them “I do feel it was meant for me because I am an African-American.” His teammates dismissed his concern and that's when he decided to protest by taking a knee during the national anthem.

The following day, Axson's teammates and others placed him in their racist crosshairs with comments and assaults via social media. An example of a racist Snapchat post with a photo of a hand-written piece of paper with four “N-Words” preceded by “F--k Rodney” and followed by “Lets Lynch Ni--ers” can be seen below.

The Axson family chose to move to Brunswick because they perceived it as being a safe community. However, his father, Rodney Axson Sr., told Cleveland 19 news:

"I thought moving to a community like Brunswick will be safe to keep away from the gun violence and then you have to come out here and deal with the racial thing."

The racial makeup of the Brunswick football team reflects the makeup of the city of Brunswick. Rodney is one of three African Americans on a team of over 100 white players reports the nydailynews. According to the 2010 census, Brunswick, Ohio, is 96% white and only 1.2% African-American.

Brunswick Schools are investigating, superintendent Michael Mayell, released the following statement:

“We are still investigating various incidents of inappropriate and racially motivated conduct by students at Brunswick High School. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement as well. As such, we will not comment further until such time as we have a reasonable grasp on all the facts."

"However, let me say that a statement which has circulated on social media connected with this investigation is reprehensible and I am deeply disappointed that any of our students would participate in its publication. Racial slurs and hate speech have no place in the Brunswick schools and those found complicit in such misconduct will be dealt with accordingly. This is a statement I have never even conceived that I might need to release. I am saddened to have to do so.”

The Axson family is remaining active in the ongoing investigation and the Cleveland NAACP Chapter has pledged their support. The family and leaders of the NAACP plan to meet with Brunswick police and then hold a press conference Monday afternoon.

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