- Former
US Soccer Paralympic team captain Seth Jahn angered people with a speech during the USSoccer Federation's annual general meeting. - The USSF removed Jahn from the player's council on Monday.
- Jahn has since issued an apology for his remarks while the USSF has issued a statement condemning his racist rhetoric.
The US Soccer Federation (USSF) removed former Paralympic team captain Seth Jahn from its player's council on Sunday, one day after Jahn made an offensive speech at the federation's annual general meeting.
Jahn, who played for the US seven-a-side Paralympic team at the 2015 Parapan American Games, gave a speech advocating against the repeal of the federation's anti-kneeling policy, which was voted to be repealed by a 71.34% majority and will go into effect June 9.
Jahn's speech included racist and falsified rhetoric in which he downplayed the impact of slavery and police brutality on the Black community.
"I keep hearing how our country was founded on the backs of slaves, even though approximately only 8% of the entire population even owned slaves," Jahn said. "Every race in the history of mankind has been enslaved by another demographic at some point time ... I lived in Africa for 2 1/2 years where I could purchase people, slaves, between the price of $300 and $800 per person, per head depending on their age, health and physicality."
Jahn also called police killings of Blacks in America an "anomaly," citing FBI statistics that 95% of deaths in Black communities come at the hands of other Blacks.
—risa (@TOBlTH) February 27, 2021
The council voted to remove Jahn from its ranks on Sunday for violation of the USSF's Prohibited Conduct Policy's section on harassment, which 'prohibits harassment based upon a person's race, including any verbal act in which race is used in a manner that would make a reasonable person uncomfortable.'
Jahn issued an 'apology letter' on Twitter on Sunday, which read less like an apology but more like a follow-up tirade as he didn't backtrack on any of his statements from Saturday's speech. Jahn said his views were not representative of the rest of the USSF but did not apologize. Jahn even went on the offensive against the USSF, calling it a hypocritical organization that insults others who have expressed opposing views.
"I will never apologize for the statements I made, and will never bow down to the mob mentality of intimidation, bullying or the social media warriors' gestapo tactics," Jahn said. "I'm embarrassed to represent a hypocritical federation that conducts a complete assault on diversity of thought without even seeking clarifying statements from me in their smear campaign."
Jahn also said he received both overwhelming support and over 30 death threats since making the remarks.
—Seth Jahn (@SJahnIX) February 28, 2021
Despite voting to remove Jahn and issuing statements condemning his rhetoric, US Soccer has still come under scrutiny for initially allowing him to make his speech in its entirety on Saturday.
US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone spoke directly after Jahn's speech and urged the council to repeal the anti-kneeling, saying, "This is not about disrespecting the flag or about disrespecting the military. This is about the athletes and our staff's right to peacefully protest racial inequalities and police brutality."
However, Cone also initially defended the decision to allow Jahn to give his speech. The speech, which ran for over six minutes uninterrupted, included falsified statistics and language that violated the federation's prohibited conduct policy but ran to ensure a counterargument was given to the reversal of the anti-kneeling policy.
"If we're truly going to embrace DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), it can't just be when you agree or when you're comfortable with it. We have to hear all sides," Cone told Meg Linehan of The Athletic. However, Cone's statement referred to why a counterargument was allowed to run as she admitted she was not listening to the entire speech live.
Cone later clarified that "There's no place for racist comments," in reference to Jahn's speech after learning what was said.
—Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) February 27, 2021
The incident has sparked reactions from several prominent figures in the US Soccer community, including US Women's National Team (USWNT) captain Becky Sauerbrunn, who directly addressed the misinformation in Jahn's initial speech over Twitter.
"Seth is entitled to his opinion - he is, however, not entitled to a set of facts, nor do I think he should use said facts in a way that misinforms and obfuscates real issues at hand," Sauerbrunn said. "For example, crime within the black community has nothing to do with the fact that Black people are disproportionately more likely to die at the hands of police than any other group in the country."