CLEVELAND, Ohio — Northeast Ohio-area high school football teams are working to tackle racism on and off the field.
Kahari Hicks is the assistant coach of the Cleveland Heights High School football team. He created the ‘Build the Bridge Challenge,” which aims to bring together high school football players from predominantly white schools with those from predominantly Black schools.
Student athletes from the Cleveland area, as well as Canton, Akron, Youngstown, Avon, and North Olmsted are among those participating in this special event, sponsored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
“Sports can be the ultimate teacher and unifier,” Hicks said. “The whole point here is just to bring kids together from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds and different communities just to get them to understand that we’re all human beings. When you cut us, we bleed red, and just people learn to get to know each other…it’s hard to treat someone bad that you know.”
The mission of the “Build the Bridge Challenge” is to empower, develop, and unify programs across Northeast Ohio, regardless of race, class or religion.
“It’s special to get everybody to get along and combine for such a great sport. This is known as America’s sport, so it’s good to get everybody involved,” said Quintyn Mckinley, senior football player at Brunswick High School.
Nearly 30 coaches and 60 players attended the challenge on Tuesday. The participants took part in a rotation of activities, including a discussion on race led by the Build the Bridge team. The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Youth & Education Team led drills — and a tour of the museum.
“The purpose of a bridge is to connect and a bridge connects communities, it connects people, and if we continue to connect people we can work to eradicate racism,” said Hicks.
Coach Hicks plans to continue events like these to show that together, people can use sports to overcome hate.
“Everybody is the same, like no one is better than anyone else, no one is less than anyone else, we’re a collective,” said Jonah Lytle, senior football player at McKinley High School.
