Bismarck parents wait to hear from Jamestown High School over racial slurs, taunts

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (KVRR) — Parents of Bismarck High School students say officials from Jamestown Public Schools have yet to reach out to them regarding last week’s basketball game where racial slurs and taunts were targeted at players of color.

“I guess I would have never said anything, but it’s different when it happens to your kid. Your child that’s being profiled and that’s hard on the parent because you don’t know the right way to go about things so that it doesn’t hurt them,” said Lance Eaglestaff, a parent of a Bismarck high school player.

As Bismarck’s Andre Austin lines up for a free throw, he hears the racially charged taunts from the student section.

He said he heard the N-word plenty of times when he walked past the section.

Austin says it was his first experience “having to endure such hatred and harassment.”

State Representative Jayme Davis sent a letter to the North Dakota High School Activities Association calling for more action from the organization and Jamestown High School.

“I don’t know this for a fact, but I can imagine that they’re going back and forth on who should have taken responsibility. Well, that’s where the penalty comes in and that’s why I think nothing will happen unless there are consequences, right? They have these guidelines in place already and they failed,” Davis said.

Parents are calling for a clear zero-tolerance policy that would lead to consequences the next time something like this happens.

Another parent of a Bismarck player says they were taunting his Indigenous son with war whooping screams and pretending to shoot a bow and arrow at him.

“I just found out the principal was there and that blew me away that nothing was done on his behalf. The Athletic Director was there. Nothing was done. He was notified during the game. To me, that’s heart wrenching that you would think your son is in a safe environment. I think they feel that writing a press release or writing a statement is going to make this go away and that’s not the truth. We’re here and we’re going to keep making noise,” Eaglestaff said.

Eaglestaff says Bismarck High School officials were quick to reach out to his family.