Dear Editor,

On 1/28/20, the Port Arthur Memorial boys varsity basketball team played Barbers Hill at Barbers Hill. About halfway through the first period, a Barbers Hill player allegedly called a Port Arthur player the N-word. Even though I personally

didn’t hear it, I was told he said it. The official quickly gave him a technical foul,

and his coach pulled him out of the game and never let him reenter.

My question is for Barbers Hill ISD Superintendent Greg Poole: Did you suspend that player for saying such a hideous word to the Port Arthur player? Or do you just suspend African American males for their dreadlocks?

This is not the first time Port Arthur has had a disrespectful encounter at Barbers

Hill. Last year at the District 21-5A track meet, Port Arthur boys were disrespected. Port Arthur was district champs and Barbers Hill was runner-up.

At the trophy presentation, Barbers Hill received the runner-up trophy on the podium, and they were shown on the large football scoreboard screen. When Port Arthur boys received the district champ trophy, they got on the podium, but the live feed to the scoreboard screen was cut off.

I wrote a letter to Mr. Poole about this. As of today I have yet to get a reply from

him.

For those who are wondering, we put a beat down on Barbers Hill. Final score: Memorial 87, Barbers Hill 58.

Charles Brown

Port Arthur

Editor’s note: Memorial boys basketball coach Alden Lewis said he could not confirm what the Barbers Hill player in question said during the Jan. 28 game. Lewis did confirm the player received a technical foul and was benched the rest of the game.