Racism Found

Under the category: Disaffected Youth Suffer from Sins of Muslim Brethren, this story. In September 2006, six Yemeni-American men were arrested and plead guilty for training in Al Qaeda terrorist camps. Since then, the remaining Muslims in the town have fought to disassociate themselves from the Lackawanna Six. How to clear your good name?

A flare up last October involving the Lackawanna High School varsity soccer team illustrates how the terror case still vexes the entire community. After losing a playoff match against Akron (a whiter, wealthier nearby town), Lackawanna players spit and swore at the other team, according to reports filed with the Lackawanna School District. Some of the players even turned on their own coach and athletic director, directing abuse at both. One team captain was arrested on harassment charges for allegedly shoving an official, according to The Buffalo News, but the charges were eventually dismissed.

Note the reference to the wealthy white team. I agree with the Muslim leaders in the town. This doesn't sound related to the Lackawanna Six; this sounds like a simple case of poorly behaved town thugs. For their behavior, their soccer season is over.

Abdul Noman, the team’s coach, thinks the punishment is more severe because of the terror case. “After Lackawanna Six, people started picking on us. This is nothing more than racism,” he tells NEWSWEEK.

Meanwhile, the documented behavior of the team suggests otherwise.

While the “terror taunts” aren’t fair, there’s no denying that Lackawanna plays a rougher game. According to Section 6, the team has accumulated more red and yellow cards than any other program in its league over the past six years. “I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, because soccer’s not like that for the U.S.,” says opposing coach Jim McCready of the Tri-Town United team in neighboring Elma.

I don't think this is such a cultural thing. The article suggests these folks have been in the US for a while ("Muslim families, mostly Yemeni, began pouring into the town to work at Bethlehem Steel in the 1930s"). Bad behavior is bad behavior whether you are Muslim, Christian, white, black.