Cheerleaders from Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs say they were subjected to racist taunts, blocked from reaching the visitors’ section, and ultimately chased out of a September 24 football game at Lutheran High School in Parker. Within two weeks, a second Colorado Springs school, Rampart High School, came forward with strikingly similar allegations following its own game at the same stadium, drawing in two school districts and the state’s high school athletics association.
According to krdo.com, Sand Creek students reported feeling concerned for their personal safety throughout the September 24 game, which was hosted at Lutheran. Cheerleader Laila Bryant described the home crowd as overwhelming, saying, “We're outnumbered. This student section was huge.” Sand Creek parent Taura Williams said a cheerleader was told, “One of those boys in the stands just called me Harriet Tubman and told me to get back on my slave ship.”
Separately, cheerleader Millani Jeeter said a student told her she did not belong there and should go to her own side before also calling her Harriet Tubman, and she alleged that an adult white woman appeared to refuse to use a restroom stall after Jeeter had used it, per the original reporting from CBS Colorado. Cheerleader Serenity Lewis said students filmed and photographed the group and yelled for them to go back where they came from, while students in the Lutheran section allegedly touched a Black male student's hair as the group returned from concessions, and some students allegedly made monkey noises at the cheerleaders as they left.
Belts, a Crowded Walkway, and a Team That Left Early
Fellow cheerleader Amar’e Kornick told KDVR that a student called her teammate “Harriet Tubman” as the visiting cheerleaders walked through Lutheran’s student section, and described “kids taking their belts off and whipping the floor around us.” Assistant cheerleading coach Sanaa Ford said she photographed the boys she said were involved in the belt incident and reported that belts were allegedly whipped toward the Black Sand Creek cheerleaders. The outlet reported that the Sand Creek cheerleaders were shaken by what happened and ultimately left the stadium, and the team left the game early.
Lutheran High said its stadium requires visiting teams and fans to walk through the home student section to reach the visitors’ side, a layout the school later apologized for. Accounts of the belt incident diverge: Douglas County CO reported that participants alleged students removed their belts and whipped the ground with them near the cheerleaders, while Lutheran told krdo.com that a review of its security footage supported a different explanation, that three students were chasing and hitting one another with belts rather than targeting the cheerleaders, and that those three students were not Lutheran students, according to Douglas County CO.
Lutheran Apologizes, Says Investigation Is Ongoing
Lutheran High School Executive Director Dan Gehrke met with Sand Creek’s principal and superintendent and said he opened that meeting with an apology. “I started the meeting with an apology,” Gehrke said, according to krdo.com’s coverage of the meeting. Per CBS Colorado, Lutheran also said in correspondence that the stadium had not been properly marked so visitors could avoid the student-section bleachers, and the school said it had received no official report of inappropriate behavior by its own players during the Sand Creek game.
Lutheran said it is actively investigating the allegations, a process that includes speaking with students, staff and witnesses from both schools, and said racist language or behavior violates its values and will not be tolerated. The school said it plans to take disciplinary action warranted by its findings under school policy. Sand Creek High School said it supported the cheerleaders through the allegations, and the school’s administration backed the team’s decision to stand by them; Ford said she decided the cheerleading squad would not return to Lutheran for the following week’s junior-varsity game because she wanted to prevent the cheerleaders from feeling uncomfortable or unsafe. CBS Colorado also reported that Lutheran families contacted Ford after she shared the cheerleaders’ account.
A Second Colorado Springs School Reports Similar Treatment
The allegations did not stay contained to one game. Rampart High School played at Lutheran on October 2, and in the days that followed, members of the Rampart community came forward with their own complaints, krdo.com reported. Multiple parents allege that a player on the Lutheran football team yelled a racist insult at the Rampart team manager during the following day’s junior-varsity game, and a Rampart mother separately claimed in a social media post that she and her daughter were called a racist slur by a student wearing Lutheran gear at a game, per CBS Colorado.
Academy School District 20, which includes Rampart, said it has contacted the Colorado High School Activities Association about the issue. School District 49, which includes Sand Creek, said its leaders shared concerns with Lutheran High School and CHSAA and confirmed that “LHS is in the process of investigating the claims,” according to the same krdo.com report. No final findings or disciplinary outcomes from Lutheran’s investigation have been made public.
What Colorado Law Requires of Schools
Colorado law treats educational institutions as places of public accommodation and prohibits them from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, ancestry and other protected categories, according to the Colorado Department of Education. State guidance requires that any investigation into harassment or discrimination reports be fair, impartial and prompt, and that schools offer accommodations and supportive measures meant to protect student safety and preserve equal access to education. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights enforces related federal civil-rights laws, per the department.
Colorado’s Office of School Safety defines harassment broadly as being picked on or treated badly because of characteristics like race, skin color, religion, gender or disability, according to the Office of School Safety. Similar disputes have played out elsewhere this year: a former student of a Lakewood charter school sued the school and administrators, alleging they failed to investigate, stop or prevent racial harassment of a Black student, according to Colorado Public Radio. For now, the Lutheran investigation remains open, and no findings or discipline connected to either the Sand Creek or Rampart allegations have been verified.
