Indian athletes face racism at games off reservation

Friday, February 16, 2007  

Indian athletes from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming encounter racial taunts and experience discrimination when they go away to play games.

After a recent game, the Wyoming Indian girls basketball team stopped at a truck stop and asked to use the bathrooms. They were told they couldn't because the facilities were being cleaned.

"Yeah, we don't want you here," the clerk said, the team's coach told the Associated Press.

Players sometime see similar behaviors on the court. Fans might make whopping sounds or do a tomahawk chop, or rival players might make race-related remarks.

"It's not something we're making up. It's something that happened, does happen and still happens," says Sara Robinson, whose daughter endured racial taunts at games.

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Indian athletes experience racism on the road (AP 2/16)