The goal of this petition is to raise awareness of the racial injustice that took place towards a multi-language speaking soccer coach during the Gateway Science Academy vs. Brentwood High School Soccer game on Nov. 4th, 2021. 

Referee, JLC refused any line communication with the losing team during the game. Including when the Coach asked him a question, he replied with, “no, you may not”. When the Coach consistently asked why he wouldn’t talk to him, he blamed his “strong accent” and the “language barrier” between them.

Later the Assistant Coach approached him to ask why he showed 3 players and 1 Coach red card without context in less than 20 minutes, he refused to give an explanation or even talk to the losing team’s coach. This behavior followed his subjective judgment on the field. He approached the losing team’s bench and threatened the players to kick them out of the game for playing aggressively.

Though he seemed to utilize against the idea of aggressive soccer playing, he didn’t show the same indiscretion when the winning team did so. He maintained a close connection with them throughout the game, the referee's bias was also clear when awarding penalties. The winning team was awarded 50% (2 of 4) of the identified penalties, while their opponents were awarded 0% (0 of 2).

This conflict of interest is strictly prohibited by the MHSAA, clearly stated in their Guide Book under the Personal Attacks Section:” Personal attacks have no place in school sports. Coaches and players that direct personal attacks to contest officials before, during, or after a contest are subject to immediate ejection. Personal attacks serve no purpose except to degrade or demean another person. Personal attacks come in three categories:

 • Abusive, defamatory, or derogatory words or phrases based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or disability.

 • Perceived credible threats or threatening behavior 

• Personal insults 

Most personal attacks in the first category are self-explanatory. Referencing someone in a derogatory manner by their disability, chiding someone because of their age or religion, using disparaging nicknames based on an individual’s ethnicity or name-calling based on gender or sexual orientation are all completely inappropriate and will not be tolerated.”

The purpose of this petition isn’t to publicly accuse or point fingers, but to raise awareness of the racial discrimination that still takes place in everyday life. We live in a time where there’s no room for racial misconduct, I praise we keep it that way. I hereby ask for help from Tishaura Jones, Cori Bush, representative Kimberly-Ann Collins, The BALSA Foundation, The Mica project, YWCA, and Action St. Louis to help get our voice heard by sharing this petition. I ask that you make it personal and acknowledge the situation at stake, I hope justice is served for those wronged.

We are all  somebody to someone, and if we don’t do something about this today it might happen again tomorrow. If we can get in front of something like this ever happening again, we can create a better future for the following generations, our sisters, brothers, kids, and everyone who was affected and is still affected by the lack of inclusion in this soccer game.