At a football game at West Creek High in Clarksville, Tennessee, in August of last year, screams of fear pierced the air. Players on both sidelines fell to the ground, a movement that could be easily distinguishable from the exhilaration of a score.
As they fled, spectators leaped from the stands and ran down the track. Another high school football game was stopped by the audible crack of gunfire.
Just ten minutes later, in Groveport, Ohio, a teenager who had been led out of a stadium discharged an automatic weapon. Every weekend around the country, under the Friday Night Lights, the same horrifyingly routine spectacle is played out.
Between August 13, 2021, and October 31, 2021, at least one shooting occurred at a high school football game every single weekend. Similar events occurred in Georgia, Nevada, Colorado, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Texas, and North Carolina.
Three distinct high school games in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were terminated by gunfire on August 29, 2021. Fanta Bility, an 8-year-old girl, was murdered at Academy Park High, outside of Philadelphia, and nine other people were injured.
According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, these incidents are not specific to 2021. Already, the forecast for 2022 is dismal. Shots were fired in May at Palmetto High School in Florida after a brawl on the sidelines of a spring game.
Police discovered two firearms when the youths involved ran away. Two weeks earlier, two males were shot during a brawl during a youth flag football competition at Louise A. Benton Middle in Virginia. The day before, during a scuffle on the sidelines at McKee Middle School in Pennsylvania, a parent opened fire.
As a result of the lack of effective action to stop them, these shootings continue to occur. While the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas led to hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for ballistic doors and classroom panic buttons, another tragedy that frequently goes unrecognized is the most defenseless and underprivileged children who are subjected to proximate gunfire on the football field.
Many schools are not prepared for a shooting at a public event with the necessary materials, planning, and training. Few schools have prepared for a shooting in the stands, even though children all around the country are taught to "Run, Hide, and Fight" when confronted by an active shooter.
What about parents and community people who attend the game, even though the school's students are aware of the strategy?
Without specialized training, officers working in a crowd of thousands of people risk tragic mishaps like Fanta Bility's demise.
Football in youth and high school is ingrained in American society. The NFL, a $138 billion entertainment behemoth in our country, depends on young players picking up the sport.
A path to success for many Black and Brown children in low-income areas is to play professional sports. It is not the same problem and sorrow when open-air gun violence results from gang, drug, or street confrontations as when a disturbed, aggressive person rampages through a school during an indiscriminate massacre.
This misconception endangers the lives and prospects of young students. No matter where or why a bullet was shot, a wound caused by one remains a wound. The league, teams, sponsors, and owners all have a role to play in ensuring the safety of their present and future supporters.
On game day, every NFL stadium is guarded. The same must be expected of the upcoming football players.
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