Students Wave Black Baby Doll, Yell Racist Threats At Kansas High School Basketball Game

Two high schools in Kansas are investigating an incident where basketball players from Topeka High School were taunted with racist threats during a visit to Valley Center High School, according to KSNW News.

One player from Topeka was at the free-throw line on Saturday when he was called an expletive. Students and fans also began chanting the N-word and waving a Black baby doll. Students from the Valley Center school also threatened to lynch their rival players.

Coach Geo Lyons told the outlet that he’d never seen such behavior during his entire career.

“Nobody, myself included, did anything to protect my kids, or my child for that matter. It was my son who was at the free-throw line when the chant, ‘He’s a p—y’ started,” said Lyons.

“The N-word was used and thrown around, you know, our kids were told they were going to be hanged…I had a down locker room, I’m talking about tears were flowing in that locker room.”

Topeka High School sophomore Jo’Mhara Benning witnessed the harassment and shared videos on social media of the students waving the Black baby doll.

This past Saturday my High schools basketball teams traveled to Valley Center, Kansas only to experience blatant racism and disrespect. Never in a million years did I think I would get called out of my name with racist slurs. Please help Topeka high bring light to this situation. pic.twitter.com/tUAZnCNoCp

— Jo’Mhara Benning (@jobenn2025) December 5, 2022

The Valley Center school district apologized in a statement for the incident. The district also claimed that a student was assigned a baby doll as an infant simulator for a human growth and development class and it was not brought to the game “intentionally” for racist taunts.

“Based on a review of videos, the baby was passed around between students during the game. While the ‘baby’ was not brought intentionally as a prop to taunt or threaten Topeka High School, without context, seeing the ‘baby’ and images of the ‘baby’ caused hurt and concern to many, and for that, we are very sorry,” the statement read.

The Valley Center school district also met with the NAACP in Wichita to discuss the incident and said follow-up consequences for the students involved were pending.