CORNELIUS, N.C. – Some Charlotte-area high school football players are speaking out and asking for change after they say their classmates filmed racist videos and posted them to social media.

Curtis Neal, a junior at William Amos Hough High School in Cornelius, says he and other students have seen at least three videos circulating on social media in the last few months. Neal is a four-star prospect and is highly recruited by major universities. By potentially sitting out a football season, Neal has a lot at stake personally.

“This kid had said 'F--- N-words, and F--- Barack Obama, and I hate the Blacks,'” Neal says. “Two months later I saw another kid saying why he should be able to say the N-word, and that it’s his First Amendment right and different things like that, which I think is ridiculous.”

Neal says the videos were brought to school administrators, but no action was taken.

Neal and his teammates have started using the hashtag “No Change, No Play” on social media, stating unless change happens within the school, they say they’re willing to sit out the fall football season.

“If we can’t get justice for our African American people as far as punishing these kids for saying racial slurs, then we won’t play football,” Neal says. “It’s kind of like the 'shut up and play football,' that we’re not supposed to speak on different things happening at the school, which I think is ridiculous. You want us to play, you want us to play for your sport, but you don’t want to give people consequences for saying racial slurs.”

There is also an online petition from other students and parents supporting the athletes.

Hough High School issued the following statement:

“The Hough High School administration, staff, and student body are committed to doing the hard and necessary work to ensure that all students, staff, and other stakeholders feel supported and valued. We believe Black Lives Matter. We will choose to actively educate our students to be open-minded, inclusive, and productive citizens both on and off-campus. 
To make meaningful change, we have to be transformational in our next steps as we commit to address and acknowledge events, systems, and structures of the past and present that have hurt specific groups of people. We hear our students at Hough, and we realize the importance of taking steps to address the concerns that are affiliated with our school community. This work has already started internally with our staff and students. However, we recognize that we cannot do this serious work alone and as a result, we have partnered with the Charlotte-based group, Race Matters for Juvenile Justice.  Change will not happen overnight, but I believe that we are taking active steps in a direction forward to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all students and staff at Hough.”