On September 2nd, football player Rodney Axson from Ohio’s Brunswick High School took a knee during the National Anthem to protest against racial injustice – beginning with his own.
Axson would become the first high school football player in the country to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick a week before Saturday’s wave of high school athletes protesting across the nation.
Unlike Kaepernick, his protest was not planned.
Axson told the Daily News, “I didn’t show up to the game thinking that I would kneel for the national anthem.”
Prior to the game, Axson, 16, says he overheard two white teammates in the locker room using the “N-word” to describe members of the opposing team.
Axson says that when he confronted his teammates, they said that the word “wasn’t meant for you” despite his objections.
Says Axson, “I do feel it was meant for me because I am an African-American.”
Moments later Axson would become the 4th athlete in 2016 to protest as it came one day after NFL players Eric Reid and Jeremy Lane took a knee.
While Axson’s protest would go unreported for a week, the reaction to his protest was vitriolic.
Axson says he was called the N-word by teammates multiple times both verbally that day and in subsequent text messages.
Later in the week, a Snapchat post surfaced with a photo of a hand-written piece of paper with four “N-Words” preceded by “F--k Rodney” and followed by “Lets Lynch Ni--ers.”
“We made the decision to move to Brunswick to provide a better life for our kids," says Rodney’s mother Danielle Axson, "he didn’t always feel this way, but his reality has changed. He couldn’t even wrap his head around this.”
His father, Rodney Axson Sr., told Cleveland 19 news, "I thought moving to a community like Brunswick will be safe to keep away from the gun violence and then you have to come out here and deal with the racial thing."
According to the 2010 census, Brunswick, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb about a 30-minute drive south of downtown, is 96% white and only 1.2% African-American. This dynamic is reflected on the team as Axson is one of only three African-American players on a squad of over 100 whites coached by an all-white staff.
According to Cleveland 19 News, who broke the story on Friday, the district's superintendent Michael Mayell, released the following statement:
“We are still investigating various incidents of inappropriate and racially motivated conduct by students at Brunswick High School. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement as well. As such, we will not comment further until such time as we have a reasonable grasp on all the facts.
"However, let me say that a statement which has circulated on social media connected with this investigation is reprehensible and I am deeply disappointed that any of our students would participate in its publication. Racial slurs and hate speech have no place in the Brunswick schools and those found complicit in such misconduct will be dealt with accordingly. This is a statement I have never even conceived that I might need to release. I am saddened to have to do so.”
According to Axson Sr., two players have confessed to writing part of the note and have been suspended, but no one has yet to confess to the “Lynch” part.
While he plans to meet with the school early this week on the status of the investigation, he expressed “serious disappointment” in the coaching leadership.
The father said one of the two players who originally used the N-word in the locker room was promoted to team captain in the days following the incident, and that in this past Friday’s game the national anthem was deliberately played with both teams in the locker room to avoid another protest.
This was the same maneuver done to Seattle Reign soccer star Megan Rapinoe by Washington Spirit owner Bill Lynch to prevent her from kneeling in solidarity with Kaepernick. Rapinoe called it “f--king unbelievable.”
In sharing his own disbelief Axson Sr. added: “Not once has the head coach said any comforting words to the family, so in my eyes, they are saying it is OK.”
Axson Sr. did tell the Daily News that the school leadership has been "very supportive."
After Saturday's high school protests, Axson is not alone. Shaun King reported, "I've now had football parents in four different cities say their students have been called 'ni--er' or threatened with lynching for protests."
While Axson's son has expressed hurt throughout a difficult week, he has remained steadfast. “I lost a lot of friends, but I also gained a lot of friends,” he said, “if I can go back in time, I wouldn’t change a thing. I stand firm.”
While his anthem protest was sparked by the locker room incident, he recognized the influence of Kaepernick and events of the previous two years that have motivated him to take action. “Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland,” says Axson.
“All of them. It still feels personal.”
Axson went on to express indignation at the deadly wallet of Philando Castille, the “broken vertebrae” of Freddie Gray and “ridiculous” privilege afforded a face-eating white man.
As for Kaepernick and professional athletes kneeling: “I applaud them. They are risking their jobs and their endorsements. That takes courage.” He adds the role of non-professional athletes in change, “it is important that we take it one city at a time.”
Axson Sr. says “this kid is a scholar”, and according to Cleveland 19 News, his 3.5 GPA is the highest on the football team. Ever since the 7th grade, Axson has wanted to become a criminal defense attorney.
If his Twitter response to school officials is any indication, he appears to be well on his way. In his tweet Saturday, Axson posted a picture of the racist “lynch” note and another note with his own “closing argument”:
“This is for everyone who calls me ignorant for sitting during the national anthem because I believe the racial inequality is real and living. This is for everyone who says ‘you’re from Brunswick, you don’t face any discrimination.’”
“This is for everyone who feels ‘Rodney just wants attention’. This is for everyone who's going to say ‘it’s just a joke’. Finally, this is for everyone who doesn’t see what is really going on for African Americans in this nation.”
“Say all you want about me, I don’t care, I will continue to sit, I will continue to be myself even if it makes me a ‘ni--er’, I will continue to pray to God at night that racism ends.”
“God Bless.”
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