By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) – A recent incident at a Missouri High School basketball game continued to provoke outrage Thursday on social media.
Earlier this week, students dressed as farmers were caught on camera turning their backs to the visiting Warrensburg High School men’s basketball team before tip-off. One student is seen holding up a Donald Trump campaign sign.
The Warrensburg team appears to be all black, but the video footage quickly zooms in on the students who are protesting.
The actions were certainly unsportsmanlike and some have alleged that students crossed a threshold into racism.
“If you go to a school where the white kids dress like rednecks and hillbillies…..you know there’s racism going on in that school….no ifs ands or buts,” Jose Delgado wrote on Facebook.
Tami Piscotty later asked “Is this my country now?”
Still, Dillon Betke disputed the claims.
“Not racist. You are a hyprocrite, this is the same thing as blm protests,” he wrote, likely referring to the Black Lives Matter movement that has gained traction amid concerns about the fatal shootings of black men by police.
User named Paul Rhodes added: “People don’t understand that student sections do this all the time when the oposing [sic] team is being announced…this has absolutely nothing to do with racism…”
Whether or not the actions were racist, the school district issued a statement about the “inappropriate” actions by students.
“The Warrensburg R-VI School District does not condone these actions and apologizes to anyone who was offended by the actions of these students,” it said. “We will do everything we can to keep incidents like this from happening again.”
