Silence about South Oak Cliff High fighting allegations telling

by Shawn Williams of Dallas South

I have maintained for quite some time now that I feel the South Oak Cliff Boys Basketball Team has been unfairly and excessively disciplined for grade changing accusations made by former employees to WFAA 8. My support for Coach James Mays has not been altered by the two championships that DISD has voluntarily decided to forfeit. I don’t believe any of those accusations would stand up in a court of law, but DISD made their decision based on court of public opinion.

That stands in sharp contrast to the recent developments involving supposed “cage fights” at South Oak Cliff that reportedly took place a few years back. What is worse is that I hear very few people speaking out either way on the subject, which leads me to believe that something bad is lying beneath the surface.

I doubt that I’m pulling back the curtain here, but there are times when black men decide to let boys settle their differences with fisticuffs. I’ve heard of this happening when boys have been having problems with fighting and are encouraged to take their aggression out under the eyes of adults rather than to handle it in the street. And in the instances where that may have happened, boxing gloves were usually involved.

The SOC allegations don’t sound nearly that well thought out or well intentioned. It’s hard to say because there has been very little in the way of denials (unlike with the basketball problems). There is no excuse for a school to run an underground fighting organization, for the pleasure of staff, administrators, or anyone else.

But it’s what the community will and will not tolerate that really matters when it comes to solutions and positive outcomes. Very few people from the African-American community had an opinion -one way or another- about the grade scandal. And there have been few voices from the community who have spoken up about the fighting allegations. The silence is deafening.

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