Philly Teen Claims He Was Kicked Off Basketball Team For Not Observing National Anthem
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The ACLU of Kansas is investigating whether a Philadelphia teenager was kicked off his college basketball team, earlier this month, because he failed to stop warming up during the national anthem. The college says no but the student contends he was.
The agreed upon facts are that Garden City College freshman Rasool Samir, a graduate of Martin Luther King High School, continued shooting baskets while the national anthem played; that a college booster confronted him and a security guard intervened and took Samir to the locker room, where the coach told him to go back to his dorm. The next day, he was kicked off the team and the day after that, on a plane back to Philly.
The college has given various explanations, but ACLU attorney Lauren Bonds says Samir has been steadfast in saying he was told it was because he shot during the national anthem, which he says he does not observe because of his Muslim faith.
"We're doing our best to make sure his rights weren't violated," Bonds said, "and there's a remedy if they were."
Samir declined to talk about the incident.
The college's current position is that he was taken off the team for being disrespectful of the coach after the anthem dust-up.