West End Advocates Call For Northridge To Forfeit Central Win

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Community advocates for Tuscaloosa's West End are calling for Northridge High School to be forced to forfeit its recent win over Central. This follows heightened community tensions resulting from an online video showing a NHS student making disparaging remarks about the school and its community.

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Patch reported that Tuscaloosa City Schools postponed the game from its normal Friday night kickoff time, to the next morning at Central. Few fans were in attendance for the rare daytime game, which saw the spirit of sportsmanship prevail and no incidents occur other than a 35-16 victory for the Jaguars.

Tuscaloosa NAACP President Jerry Carter spoke to the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education Tuesday night to call for immediate action by the school system. His plea was emotional at times, as he spoke about the West End with fondness, evoking the memories of respected community leaders such as McDonald Hughes and longtime Central football coach Lue C. Mims.

Carter then told elected officials that the more he watched the video, the more he noticed and the angrier he became.

"Not only was the young man talking about Central High School, players, teachers and the community, he was talking about me … I’m as Westside as it gets," he said. "I'm asking that you set a high standard and I feel like it is a very small price to pay to ask that this game be forfeited."

James Williams, the newly-elected president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also called for the game's result to be thrown out and demanded to know what corrective measures had been taken by the city school system.

"When we say see something, say something, you don’t just talk about gun violence or illegal drug use," he told the board. "I want Northridge's Black students to know, if they see something concerning color of skin, class, racism, say something."

He then encouraged any students who wished to report such activity to call (205) 454-4575 or (205) 345-3761.

"We cannot tolerate these things going on in our school system," Williams said.

Funeral home owner Paul Rollins Sr. took a different approach, saying that his frustrations focused not so much on punishing the student responsible, but in the failure of having a plan in place to prevent the logistical challenges posed by a sudden scheduling change from Friday night to Saturday morning.

He went on to explain how transportation to the game, missing regular school meals and playing during the hottest point in the day all served to only punish the communities involved.

"Hopefully, this doesn't happen again," Rollins said. "But if it does, take some of those things into account."

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