After a student announcer at Penn High School in South Bend, Indiana, called a Black basketball player on the opposing team a racial slur multiple times during a live student broadcast of a playoff game, civil rights and community leaders are in an uproar and demanding bold corrective action from th e school system.On March 6, during the live broadcast on YouTube of Penn High School’s game against Riley High School, when Kelin Webster, a 6-foot-4 Black star player from Riley, stepped up to the free-throw line, a student doing play-by-play coverage could be heard making monkey sounds and then said “Ni—er” three times in succession.Another broadcaster calling the game seemed taken aback, saying, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! … Simon, c’mon now,” and then, “Cut the stream,” which happened within seconds. Riley High School senior Kelin Webster (right) during a basketball game on February 26, 2026 against rival Penn High School. (Photo: The Pennant, Penn High School) The video link to the game on the school’s YouTube sports channel, The Pennant, was disabled, but video clips including the racist slur quickly spread on Facebook and TikTok, shocking students, parents, educators and South Bend residents.One such clip: “Which ever team this behavior is coming from should automatically forfeit the game,” wrote @GGSBTBOFTL on YouTube. “And the team should be eliminated from the rest of the season, PERIOD!!!”“If he isn’t expelled then Penn High does not hold their students to account and does not have high standards of behaviour,” replied @jujutrini8412.In an email to school families the day after the game, Penn High Principal Rachel Fry said the offensive language and behavior by the student announcer “do not reflect the expectations we have for our students,” who are held to “high standards, and our community is committed to creating a safe, welcoming and respectful environment for all.”She said she had apologized to Riley High School administrators and promised her staff was investigating the matter and that the student code of conduct would be followed to address the student’s behavior. But after reviewing the Penn-Harris-Madison (PMH) district’s student conduct handbook, the South Bend NAACP was not impressed.The NAACP said it “found no clear provisions addressing the use of derogatory language” in the handbook. “We believe this omission should be addressed through appropriate revisions to the policy,” noting that over the course of several years, the civil rights organization “has been compelled to meet with teachers, students, and administrators in response to ongoing incidents of racial discrimination within the PHM School District.” Due to “this continued pattern and the seriousness of the current incident,” the NAACP made several requests of the district to ensure “accountability” and a “just resolution”: That the student involved and his parents be required to research and write a paper examining the harmful impact of racist language on individuals and communities, and present those findings to the school board during a public meeting. That a task force be established to examine implicit bias within the school district, assess its impact on students and staff, and recommend meaningful and enforceable corrective measures. That the district Superintendent Heather Short provide a written statement outlining how the incident would be addressed and what specific steps will be taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future. A few days later, Superintendent Short issued a statement on behalf of the PMH school district saying she “shared the community’s deep concerns over the use of a racial slur during the broadcast” and acknowledged that such language is “hurtful and offensive not only to the person it was directed toward, but to the entire community.”“I want to extend my sincerest apologies to the Riley High School student who was subjected to this language, as well as to the Riley High School community. No student should experience that type of disrespect,” she said.Penn High School had “thoroughly investigated this incident and has identified the student involved,” the district superintendent said. “While we understand it can be frustrating in situations like this … federal privacy laws prevent school districts and schools from sharing the disciplinary action of any minor.” Short said the district “remains committed to reinforcing expectations for respectful behavior and ensuring our schools are places where all students feel safe, valued, and supported. We appreciate the advocacy of community organizations, including the NAACP, and their work to strengthen our community.”Unsatisfied with the district’s response, South Bend’s Black Lives Matter chapter along with South Bend Common Council member Henry Davis, Jr., the parent of a Riley basketball player, released a joint statement on March 23 calling on the South Bend Community School Corp. (the school district that includes Riley High) to boycott all athletic engagements at Penn High until the demands of NAACP South Bend are “fully addressed and implemented.” “Davis and Black Lives Matter South Bend affirm that participation in athletics cannot be separated from the broader conditions Black students face in educational environments,” the statement read. “When those environments fail to ensure dignity, protection, and fairness, continued participation without accountability only reinforces harm.” According to the South Bend Tribune, school board member Marcus Ellison, who is Black, spoke on the issue at the following week’s SBCSC board meeting. He said he didn’t support a suspension of athletics at Penn High School but did confirm there was a “private apology” between the student broadcaster and Webster.  “I think the way that Penn’s school board and superintendent have handled this, they’ve done a lot of things that I think were the right thing to do in response to the incident,” Ellison said. “I think, you know, boycotting our athletics teams, not competing anymore, I think that’s bad for us, I think it’s bad for their students, and I think it’s bad for the community, and that’s not the proper response, in my opinion, to resolve the situation.” Commenters online expressed frustration over the offending student’s punishment remaining opaque to the public, with some calling to identify and “cancel Simon.” “I can understand why the student’s name cannot be released but what I do not understand is why the punishment is not disclosed,” wrote one person in response to a WSBT article. “This was horrible thing to happen. In this day and age, it should never be tolerated. To think someone is so hateful is appalling. Parents, do better!“That student did what he and his classmates do every time a black student goes to the free throw line, he just forgot the mic was on,” observed Brandy Jane on Facebook.Others argued that schools can’t serve as morality police, and that parents need to instill good values in their children and teach them not to discriminate along racial and ethnic lines. “It’s the parents’ job to teach the children racial sensitivity. Not the school’s job,” noted Stephanie Ball Frame on WVPE Public Radio’s Facebook page. “The school barely has time to teach the kids the basics. The schools cannot raise peoples’ children.”“How can we expect kids to behave and respect others when President posts racist videos of the Obamas as monkeys? Children learn from adults,” wrote Zelphia Horvath on Facebook.“You don’t have to train someone for them to know that monkey sounds towards a black person is completely unacceptable,” added Natalie Bernard. ‘Appalling’: Student Calls Black Basketball Player at Rival High School In Indiana the ‘N-Word’ on Live Sports Broadcast, Prompting Calls for Boycott ...read more read less