Black High School Baseball Player Taunted — You Should Have Been George Floyd

CHARLES CITY, Iowa- Jeremiah Chapman, the only Black player on the Charles City High team, told CNN that fans yelled “You should have been George Floyd” and “Get back to the fields” during a recent away game.

He said they started taunting him by calling him by his jersey number. Then he heard someone call him Colin, which he took to mean Colin Kaepernick.“I knew they knew my name because I have lots of friends from Waverly.” Chapman said he was later told by hecklers to go work in the field, meaning to the labor that enslaved Africans once performed.“That made me really mad because I have never worked in the field a day in my life.” Chapman’s mother posted a tweet saying “This is my boy! He is kind, sweet and talented.. if you can’t see beyond his skin color then sucks for you! And just and FYI…he has never worked on a field…his name is Jeremiah not Colin…he doesn’t care who you support politically..and he doesn’t remind you of George Floyd!

Charles City School District put out a release that said in part- During a recent away athletic contest one of our African-Amercian players endured several bigoted comments yelled from the crowd. This included, “Get back to the fields!” and “You’re only here because of George Floyd.” Sadly, this has been a pattern of behavior that our students of color have had to endure in many different places and contexts and is part of their daily experience.

This is unacceptable.