Breaking: Petition mounts to expel soccer player

Natalia Martinez's private Instagram picture was screenshotted and distributed by a friend.

Georgia State women’s soccer team member Natalia Martinez is suspended from the university’s team after using the N-word on her Finsta account on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.

Martinez is a freshman defender from Florida, who is petitioned for expulsion by other Georgia State students after getting exposed. Her name is no longer on the team’s roster team.

Georgia State University Sports Communications released a statement saying they were aware of an “incident on social media” involving one of their student-athletes.

“We do not tolerate the language the student used in her post. Pursuant to our student-athlete code of conduct, she has been suspended from the soccer team,” the statement read.

Facebook user and Georgia State student India Bridgeforth began a petition to expel Martinez, which has so far gained 181 signatures.

“I have just started a petition for the [expulsion] of a student at Georgia State University. Our mission statement states that we provide an outstanding education and exceptional support for students from all backgrounds and these Panther values are not concurrent with the very distrubing statements made publicly by the GSU freshman and soccer player,” Bridgeforth posted.


The Signal has published an update regarding this situation on Jan. 22, 2018.

32 Comments

  1. This ignorant girl deserves to be kicked off the team. my state taxes go toward funding this state school, and her kind has no place in this institution. i applaud her friend for publicizing the text…. With a last name like martinez, she should be the last person to spout racist slurs against anybody. what does she think she is being called behind her back? also, if she is here illegally, which she probably is, she has a whole lot of nerve, and hopefully the INS will deport her back to wherever she came from.

    • You just called someone else ignorant? Beverly Williams is the definition of ignorance. Stop commenting on a college page when you obviously lack education.

      • Mind your own dam business John S. Beverly is right. This spoiled brat should be kicked off. Enough is enough with all this garbage.

    • Hey Beverly, you’d be surprised at how often members of the black community use the “N” word in everyday conversation. Obviously you’re not aware of it since in your sequestered little world of white social justice warriors you don’t hang wit dem kind of folks……..You’re a liberal hypocrite.

      • I am a black man and I really don’t feel that she should have been kick off the team. I think she should be suspended for two games and put on probation. But to be kicked of the team is a little to much her scholarship should not be taken from her she made a mistake and she is sorry. Suspended her for two game or a year but it’s too far when her scholarship it taken

    • lol beverly d williams what you just said was a lot more offensive than what she said IMO. clearly she didn’t use this in a racial context, as the word was used in regards to her followers/friends on social media. you on the other hand are a super prejudice bigot who needs to look in the mirror before saying anything to anyone about racism. #hypocrite

    • This sounds like satire… If it isn’t, you should reread your post and hopefully you’ll see the blatant hypocrisy. She didn’t just get suspended from the team, she’s facing expulsion, which will literally effect the rest of her life. And all because she used a word (not even in a racist context) in a post to her closest friends? That’s actually horrible. I actually somewhat agree with her being suspended from the team, but I think it’d be more justified if it was on a public post.

    • I’m guessing you don’t see the irony of your post decrying bigotry while using bigotry to do so? There are millions of white people named “Martinez” and millions more that are here legally.

    • So what you are saying is it is not ok for her to us a word. But it is ok for you to racial profile her because of her last name saying she probably is here illegally and needs to be deported for saying one word? Sounds like your the racist one to me. She never said she hated black people. She said what every other black person in the world says on a daily bases. But she deserves to get punished for saying it. I bet if they check half the black peoples Instagram that word is in there in some kind of text.

    • Beverly your ignorance and outright denial of proper grammar usage make me question why you’re still enrolled in our institution.

  2. This is a sad witch hunt against this girl. What steps has the school taken to ‘discipline’ and to kick off any and all other athletic teams (including football) to expel any black students who speak racist ebonics or to call a white person a ‘cracker’, like they did with this white soccer player? What steps did the school take to expel the football player who said “Fuck Trump”? And what steps has the school taken against any black students who watch ….OR POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA ….about the TV show “Blackish” or BET (The Black Entertainment Channel)?

    • this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would comments made outside of school, not on the schools behalf cause such an incident? It is just a word. a word that certain people can say and others are unable to? I agree that choices have consequence – but getting your 15 minutes for starting a petition to expel someone? seriously? I didn’t know we lived in such a fascist country. If she had said honkey or cracker, would the outcry be as bad? no. maybe kicking her off the soccer team … maybe – but still silly. the real lesson, delete your instagram.

    • I agree with your point that this is a witch hunt. It is unclear what the Alabama football player said. In fact, he most likely said “Georgia”, instead of Trump.

      BTW, I am an Auburn alum and very conservative, so politics have no impact on what I heard Evans say at the SEC game.

  3. Beverly Williams- How do you assume she is illegal?? Agree with your other comments but you totally blew it with that final one

  4. Hopefully the university will monitor the conversations of black students and if they do, they will find they use the term “Niggas” in almost every conversation among themselves………Expel them too if they do. Orwell’s 1984 has finally arrived……….

    • Just because some people do and say ignorant things doesn’t make it okay for another to do the same thing. Especially, at an institution of higher learning. So yes, those African american students that are posting comments with the same vulgar statements deserve the same fate. I agree with your statement There are derogatory terms for people of other nationalities as well Jewish, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Irish etc.no one wants to hear it as we all should be past the BS

  5. It’s good she’s gone. I’m sick and tired of these undercover racists. i bet she pretends to be friends with people of color in their face, and calls them racial slurs behind their back. lots of folks do the same thing, and i’m glad when they get exposed. Kudos to the friend that turned this phony in.

  6. As a black man I absolutely deplore what she said (she must be a deplorable!) but I disagree with the efforts to have her expelled. She should be allowed to stay and face the shame she would no doubt receive for her actions. That’s a much better punishment than allowing her to slink away to relative anonymity of another university.

    • She was addressing her friends; doesn’t context matter at all? Should a black person face the same judgement for using the same word?

      • Expulsion is a little very harsh but she needed to be reminded that the school has a reputation they are trying to represent. (Diversity) so a warning would have been sufficient the first time around. But yes black students as well should be treated the same way. You are at an institution of higher learning, therefore I’m sure she could have found another word to use instead. #Google

  7. I think it’s atrocious that this girl is facing expulsion over something so inane. Obviously the context of her post was not hateful and using the word “nigger” or “nigga” does not make someone racist. It’s often used amongst friends as a joke, whether they are black or not (and certainly it’s used very regularly by blacks). Use some common sense – she didn’t assault anyone, she didn’t spew hateful things towards someone, she didn’t rape someone, or endanger anyone. Her future should not be ruined because of a word.

  8. You don’t know what influences this young woman had in her life. College is a place of learning. I wonder if the woman, who started the petition, every attempted to have a conversation with her.

    • True but everything is so sensitive these days and driven by revenue. Say something wrong that might reflect our revenue stream your out, regardless of your intention. Now people are taking advantage and potentially ruining lives and careers. There is no due process now, just get rid of the person. Shameful, hopefully they will reinstate her next semester. I’d hate to see her parents tuition money wasted.

  9. the school if full of fruit lovers
    you need to hang all the coconuts from trees to instill proper juicing
    the fruit growers of america should hold recruit at GSU

  10. Take note GSU students, all you need is a screenshot of a questionable Social Media post & 500 signatures to have someone expelled.
    You’d think GSU would require this 18 YEAR OLD KID to complete some Racial Sensitivity Classes, not kick her out of school.

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