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You Won’t Find the Moon When the Sun Is Out:
A MESSAGE FOR SPORTS FANS
"A Message for Sports Fans"
Haley Carter, Tradition Reporter
"A Message for Sports Fans"
Haley Carter, Tradition Reporter
Neville’s Friday Night Football games are a guilty pleasure among many students due to their popularity, student section themes, and recognition. However, as acclaimed as the sport is, could it hurt other sports' livelihoods? It is undeniable that football players work tirelessly to achieve the goal of winning; not just winning, but becoming successful. However, other athletes who do the same amount of work, if not more, feel they receive less recognition. Why is that?
Coach Runner and Mr. Michael Glover agree that football generates more money and will receive more praise and attention than other sports. They also attribute its popularity to its history in Louisiana culture. Furthermore, Runner and Glover state that Neville’s involvement in promoting upcoming events on numerous communication apps and pep rallies also significantly plays a part in the constant traction that the football games receive.
“Other sports should have pep rallies too,” said Glover.
The widespread celebrations of football and its pre-game rituals are a prevalent and enduring tradition throughout America. According to Felix Richter’s article, “Football Remains No.1 But Sees Lead Fading Among Young Fans,” “football is still the clear number 1 sport in the United States.”
Undeniably, football holds its position as the most beloved sport, with an extraordinary 79 percent of U.S. adults who generally follow sports expressing their love and support of the game. Be that as it may, some feel that credit isn’t always given where credit’s due.
So what is the real reason behind the spotlight on football? Is it the excitement, the money, or was it just luck that football wound up the American pastime? After all, polls show that baseball was king up until the 60s.
The real question is: How do the other student athletes feel about this at Neville High School? Students like Jason Parker summed up in a word
how many feel when teams like track get no real acknowledgment when they go to state: “Unfair.”
11th grader, Bengal Bell, and volleyball player Bailey Morison also represents a growing crowd of voices when she commented that “I feel as if I’ve got to work harder to show that I am something because football is already given applause before they do something.”
Naturally, NHS student-athletes have accepted how much recognition the football team receives compared to other sports teams on campus. No stranger to accomplishments and accolades themselves, our Neville cheerleaders were asked if they felt like football overshadowed their sport. The majority response tended toward No, we cheer for them. Hence, it’s not about us.
So what’s the take-away? I think we can all agree that recognition and support does ultimately come down to the sports fans themselves. Simply showing up matters. Not being able to count on the stands to fill up pre-game can’t help but affect any athlete’s performance on the field, court, or stage. Hard-working athletes like soccer player Abe Mobely would love to know some people had in fact “paid to come to watch them” and “wished [there was] a student section” to help cheer her on.
Moral of the story? You won’t find the moon when the sun is out unless you search for it.
CAN WE GET DIVERSITY OFF THE BENCH?
Where you sit tells the world where you stand
"Where You Sit Tells the World Where You Stand"
Haley Carter, Tradition Reporter
"Where You Sit Tells the World Where You Stand"
Haley Carter, Tradition Reporter
Why is it so difficult for us to embrace diversity?
When can we just take time and celebrate our differences?
Where can we create a place of acceptance?
And in the light of diversity, we ask: Who are you?
Diversity sits on the border of visible, individual characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, and physical appearance. Accepting and celebrating our differences are supposed to make us whole for growth and unity. While symbols of diversity such as the Native American dreamcatcher, the diversity flag, and Chinese chopsticks are displayed globally, a look at our local awareness may lead you to ask: Has diversity been genuinely embraced and accepted right here where we live?
Within its walls, Neville High School is known for its diversity. Yet, for many, it seems this fact may go unnoticed beyond our walls. It’s a perplexing contradiction, isn't it, that many outside of Neville still have the absurd misconception that we are an “all-white school”?
Those misconceptions have a historical reason. It may seem unthinkable now, but for a while in the 60s Neville was operated as a white school during de jure segregation. Once upon a time, it was in fact classified as an “all-white school.” Yes, this was long ago, but it still impacts how people perceive Neville to this day.
Does there need to be more diversity going on within our school walls? Yes. Our classes, breaks, and events are filled with individuals from various backgrounds. However, we still tend to segregate into cliques each based on our own. This limits interaction with each other because we ourselves choose not to break the color barrier.
Why do we tend to do this?
Left to sit where we want in the cafeteria, in classes without a seating chart, in pep rallies . . . why do we tend to break into cliques? While there are a lot of problems with this tendency, the most immediate is that separating ourselves sends the message that says “Oh, whose side are you on?” Intentionally or not, it also makes a target out of diverse people interacting with each other. This means many people cannot embrace or accept differences--racial differences, to be specific. It sends another pretty ugly and stereotypical message to both those of us at Neville and to the many who pass through our halls as visitors: Sorry, but difference does not make us so unique after all. In fact, difference makes us despise each other.
We believe that we are all created equal--supposedly. In a high school, what negates that belief more than voluntarily isolating ourselves into our cliques and undermining the trials and tribulations that men and women went through to get us to come together in the first place?
You may think what I’ve said here to be insightful or controversial, but let’s have a look within our school’s walls. ! When scrolling on any of Neville’s social media, who do you mostly see? For homecoming court, who do you see, especially if you don’t attend school here? Statistically, Neville’s student body is majority Black American. But it doesn’t look that way if you’re on the outside looking in.
Despite the many purposes they may serve, the definitive purpose of a clique is to exclude. The problem arises when it is yourself you’re excluding. Why don’t we celebrate “Black History Month”, "Cinco de Mayo” and more holidays for people with different backgrounds?
We can make a change by simply refusing to exclude others for their differences, and of course, race is hardly the only one, but it seems to me the biggest and the best place to start not letting history repeat itself.
SUSPICION IS NOT ENOUGH: What We Can Learn
from the DEATH OF SONYA MASSEY
Above: Photo that Sonya Massey took of herself prior to her death. Image for Editorial Use
In the middle of the night at 12:50 A.M on July 6th, policemen arrived at Sonya Massey’s residence after she feared there was someone lurking around her home and wanted them to search the area. Unbeknownst to Sonya, her life would be taken by the very people she called for help. The following information was obtained from bodycam footage from the suspect, Sean Grayson.
"Suspicion is Not Enough"
Jayla Tate, Tradition Reporter
"Suspicion is Not Enough"
Jayla Tate, Tradition Reporter
In the middle of the night at 12:50 A.M on July 6th, policemen arrived at Sonya Massey’s residence after she feared there was someone lurking around her home and wanted them to search the area. Unbeknownst to Sonya, her life would be taken by the very people she called for help.
The following information was obtained from bodycam footage from the suspect, Sean Grayson.
When Sean Grayson and another unidentified deputy didn’t find evidence pointing to a suspected intruder around Massey’s home, they approached her front door and knocked multiple times. After about three minutes, Massey opens the door and immediately states that “somebody is out here” and “please don’t hurt me.” The deputies then confirm they couldn’t locate any traces of anyone around her home or the surrounding area, which seems like an indicator to all parties that the conversation is over. However, as Massey begins to close her screen door, Grayson questions her about a black SUV with broken windows sitting in her driveway, to which Massey responds that “they brought it to my driveway.”
At that moment, the unidentified deputy splits off from Grayson and approaches the SUV to call in its license plate, while Grayson continues to question Massey for personal information. As the deputy turns back toward Grayson and Massey, the pair enter Massey’s home, prompting the deputy to follow them inside as well. While in her living room, Massey is questioned once more about the SUV in her driveway and is bombarded by both deputies to present her ID, to which she responds that she doesn’t “know where [her] ID is.”
As Grayson waits for Massey to display identification, he notices a pot of boiling water on the stove and points towards it, signaling Massey to step into her kitchen to turn the stove off. Afterwards, she grabs mittens that are hanging on a nearby handlebar and proceeds to move the pot of water to a counter. The unidentified deputy takes a few steps away from Massey, ending up next to Grayson, and Massey questions him as to where he’s going. The deputy tells her that he’s moving away from her pot of water, and Massey responds that “[she’ll] rebuke [him] in the name of Jesus.” Suddenly, Grayson retrieves his gun from his waistband and threatens Massey that he’ll “shoot [her] in her [----] face.” Aiming his gun toward her, Massey immediately apologizes and crouches out of target behind a counter, which Grayson steps around to shoot her, still shouting for her to drop the pot.
Within two weeks of the shooting, Sean Grayson was terminated from his position at the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, and one count of official misconduct. While on the surface
this may seem like a case of a good cop turned bad, Grayson’s criminal record spans far into the past leading up to Massey’s murder. During his enlistment in the army, he would receive two DUIs in 2015 and 2016, and had also been momentarily employed to six different police departments between 2020 and 2024.
In a specific incident from 2022, Grayson was working under the Logan County Sheriff’s Office of Lincoln, Illinois, where he was involved in a high speed chase. Ordered by his superior to cease pursuit of the suspect, Grayson ignored this command and persisted, reaching speeds of up to 110 miles per hour and putting everyone around him in serious danger. However, despite his extremely concerning background, Grayson continued to be let off the hook and his offenses dismissed, ultimately leaving him undisciplined long enough to go beyond what is redeemable and take the life of another human being.
According to The Washington Post, Blacks have the highest rate of police killings and are killed at a rate disproportionate with other races. And one word that appears a lot in the subsequent police report is the word “suspicious.”
“Suspicious” is a hard case to argue either way. One person’s suspicious is another person’s nervous, another’s normal in a hard neighborhood. However we define “suspicious,” it is not enough for pulling the trigger on a gun.
The 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman occurred when Martin was volunteering as neighborhood watch at the time. Zimmerman watched Martin as he walked back from a nearby convenience store and on a 911 call Zimmerman made moments before the shooting, he stated to the dispatcher that Martin looked to be “a real suspicious guy " and that “[he] looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something." Despite being told not to pursue Martin, Zimmerman did anyway, and an altercation between the two resulted in Zimmerman fatally shooting Martin multiple times. To a 3rd-person observer, one man following another with a gun would be suspicious behavior.
Skewed perception surrounding skin color and social rank simply is not the outstanding actor at work in a few outlier cases where “bad apples” engage in racial profiling. It’s the norm, without fail. Michael Brown, Elijah McClain, George Floyd were all “suspicious” in some way.
If we’re honest, over 60% of Neville High School would look suspicious if they were caught by the wrong person standing on the wrong street.
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