A California mother is urging officials in her son’s school district to address a disturbing incident where her child became the target of racist taunts during a school wrestling match.
The family has outlined a series of steps they believe should be taken, which includes conducting a thorough investigation into the discriminatory acts and making them public.
Mercedes Overby held a press conference following an incident involving her son, a student-athlete at Sacramento’s Inderkum High School, on Jan. 18. The mother believes officials in nearby Roseville, California, did not do enough to stop the hate speech that violated her son’s civil rights.
The incident occurred during a wrestling match at Roseville High School earlier this month. A video shared on social media depicted two students using what appeared to be racist slurs and offensive body language during his match.
Omarion Overby, 16, an honors student, did not hear the slurs while he was on the mat. Instead, the 6-foot-2 and 285-pound wrestler was focused on trying to win in an intense match that went into triple overtime. If he heard anything, it was his schoolmates and supporters chanting his nickname from the side.
Unfortunately, he lost, and seeing the video the next day made the loss even more bitter.
“They sent the video to me, and I watched it, and I was just shocked,” Omarion said. “And after that, I sent it to my mother. They used the N-word, and they made monkey gestures.”
Standing before multiple media outlets, the mother told the public what happened to her son, how it made him feel, and is “calling for action.”
“I have demands,” Overby said, according to CBS News. “I want them met, and I don’t want them swept under the rug.”
After seeing the crude behavior, the teen was deeply distressed and is now relying on the support and advocacy of his mother to get answers and some measure of justice.
“He immediately gets upset….
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