The Rev. Darrien K. Bolden Sr. prayed for unity and love at the outset of a Sept. 15 community conversation following racism accusations at a Sept. 10 volleyball match in Fernandina Beach. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on September 15, 2026 at 11:52 pm
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On Tuesday evening, more than 200 people gathered inside First Missionary Baptist Church in Fernandina Beach to demand more accountability for what they saw as racial harassment of Black athletes last week.
Fernandina Beach High School’s win over Jacksonville’s Andrew Jackson last Thursday was overshadowed by students in the Fernandina Beach High bleachers holding a Black doll in the air while yelling in the direction of the Jackson Tigers, according to witnesses and video of the incident.
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Jackson players and parents left Fernandina Beach last week feeling the incident was seeped in misogynoir.
Catherine Barnes, president of the Jacksonville chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, says she met with the Jackson High volleyball team on Monday night.
“The students indicated they were afraid,” Barnes told Jacksonville Today. “They were embarrassed. They were ashamed. They were humiliated. They were not sure how to proceed. They didn’t know what to do. Students were struggling to get their words out. They were very clear: this was not something they invited. They are hesitant to move forward doing anything because of the fear caused by this incident.”
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The Nassau County School District announced Friday it was investigating what happened, including rumors that the incident included chants of racial slurs. Those rumors were not substantiated by a game attendee who spoke with Jacksonville Today nor by the Nassau County School District’s investigation.
“The review did not substantiate reports that racial slurs were spoken during the match based on video, statements, and other information reviewed,” said a written statement attributed to Nassau Superintendent Kathy Burns on Tuesday afternoon. “However, the absence of substantiated racial slurs does not make the other described acts acceptable.”
According to the district’s statement, the Fernandina Beach High students brought the school-issued doll to the gymnasium in a baby carrier as a required part of a parenting course. During the match, multiple students removed the doll from the carrier. Two students then held the doll aloft and shouted. Burns’ statement said the district deemed “this conduct inappropriate and unacceptable.”
The district’s statement says the students who were involved violated the student code of conduct. “Those matters are being addressed in accordance with district procedures,” the statement says, but specifics are being withheld because of federal student privacy laws.
The three-page investigation update did not capitalize “Black.”
On Tuesday evening, Burns attended the meeting at the venerable church and heard from pastors, parents and community leaders from both Duval and Nassau County. More than one speaker noted the timing: The meeting fell on the anniversary of the Birmingham church bombing that killed four Black teenagers in 1963.
“Racism has no place here,” said the Rev. Darrien K. Bolden, a Nassau County native who has pastored First Missionary Baptist for 29 years. “Not in our schools, not in our churches, not in our athletic arenas, not in our classrooms. But, certainly not in the hearts and minds of our children.”
Bolden wondered aloud why only Black clergy were speaking out against the incident.
Burns’ apology on Tuesday evening, in which she stressed that the districts must be better in solving their racial divide in the near future, was seen as pandering by some in attendance.
Together Eastside Coalition Inc. Vice President and 1993 Andrew Jackson alumna Latavia Harris said afterward that Burns was “playing in our face” because, she believes, Burns needs to hold the adults who were inside the gymnasium on Sept. 10 accountable.
The Rev. R.L. Gundy Jr., pastor at Jacksonville’s Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield, stood at the pulpit, looked Burns square in the face and made five requests for action:
- Ensure the students responsible for bullying, harassment, intimidation and racial harassment face discipline consistent with Nassau County School District policy.
- Consider suspending students who were determined to have “committed serious bullying” for up to 10 academic days.
- Consider expelling students if “evidence establishes that an individual organized, initiated, led or deliberately escalated particularly egregious conduct.”
- Hold conversations with Jackson players to determine the facts. Hold separate conversations with Fernandina Beach High volleyball players, coaches, Athletic Director Michael Woodard, as well as administrators, game officials, parents and adult witnesses to determine the facts.
- Investigate the response of Woodard as well as other coaches and administrators who were in attendance.
None of the Tigers volleyball players were on site for Tuesday’s community meeting. Jackson was back on the court against Global Outreach Charter Academy in Jacksonville.
Reather Bennett attended the Sept. 10 match. Her son and nephew are students at Fernandina Beach High. Both were within 20 feet of the students who held the melanated baby in the air, she says.
Bennett echoed the calls for accountability and believes Woodard should be fired for not addressing the students’ conduct immediately after it happened.
“I would like to see those students held accountable,” Bennett told Jacksonville Today on Monday evening. “I would like to see the (athletic director) held accountable for their actions. … I’m glad the light is shining and the veil is uncovered. It’s been like this for a long time. They turn a blind eye to any type of racism.”
The Rev. Bernard Thompson has lived in Nassau County for all 73 of his years. He is a Fernandina Beach High graduate who later spent 35 years working in Nassau Schools. Thompson said he believes his school district is the “reigning and defending champions” of systemic racism.
“Someone was asleep at the wheel,” Thompson says. “There needs to be accountability.”
