Corps Style HS Band Spells Out Racial Slur

[Brian Tuma]

2 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

sadly, kids will be kids. 

Please don’t use that as an excuse. 

[cixelsyd]

3 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

To quote my brother in law... morons

If they had the "m", they could have spelled that instead.

[JimF-LowBari]

36 minutes ago, Brian Tuma said:

Please don’t use that as an excuse. 

With all that has been going on in the last few weeks (went to college near Pittsburgh) really want to hear how this is supposed to be a prank. (My guess at the coming excuse.) Then again just sent a nasty gram to the state committee of one of the political parties. Got a flyer about one of the issues but instead of presenting facts it went off on a fear tangent based on race. If the so called adults act stupid...

Edited November 6, 2018 by JimF-LowBari

[JimF-LowBari]

14 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

     

Edited November 6, 2018 by JimF-LowBari

[LeftCoastCupcake]

1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Would be interesting to know racial make up and trouble history of this school and school they played. Went to almost all white suburbs school but played some city mostly black schools. Two of those schools were banned from night games (even away games) for 3 years due to fights and death at a basketball game. Spelling out this word would start the riot. Worst thing I heard was one idiot trumpet player yelling anti Catholic crap when we played the local Catholic school. Well until a guy he knew said "never told you tthis but I am Catholic numb...."

 

I pulled this year's AR (so, it's typical of last school year 16/17). It's a relatively high achieving school with a pretty decent ethnic mix. 

Asian* 16% Black/African American*  27% +Hispanic or Latino, 14% +Multiracial, two or more races*  4%  +White* 38% 

Seeing the ethnic background of the offending students, and having spent the last 6 years directly in contact with hundreds of 14-18 year old students, I can fully believe this is a tasteless prank. That said, these are 16-18 year old young people who fully knew exactly what they were doing and chose to do so on a high profile evening when many eyes would be on the field (Senior Night). I hope all 6 kids (the two that knew of the prank and actively worked against sharing information with Admin hold some accountability also) are punished in a manner that makes abundantly clear such "pranks" are unacceptable and will not be tolerated by ANYONE, regardless of ethnic background. 

 

EDIT: Brookwood HS Accountability Report

Edited November 6, 2018 by LeftCoastCupcake

[deftguy]

4 hours ago, oldsoprano said:

And according to the AJC's update on the story, of the four students who pulled off the prank, one was Hispanic, one was Asian and two were African-American.

All of these kids should be given a serious history lesson on the background of the word. This may be a joke to the African American kids, but to their ancestors, the word was no joke.  I am a sticks and stones mud blood myself, but I totally recognize how others would be hurt by the sight and use of this word. 

Edited November 6, 2018 by deftguy

[Lance]

7 hours ago, troopers1 said:

I think it's possible that the kids didn't take the covers off their sousaphones for the halftime, as they are supposed to.  Formation changes led to the word being inadvertently spelled out.

It's not 100% clear, but that's the impression I'm getting from the story I read this morning.

Sadly, no. 

Quote

 

Brookwood Principal William Bo Ford Jr. sent a letter to parents, students and community members Saturday, vowing to get to the bottom of the issue. 

“As promised, we started an investigation into this matter, and I wanted to share with you our current findings and the steps we are taking with the students who were involved,” Ford wrote Monday. “After extensive interviews with many students, we have determined that three seniors intentionally planned and executed the use of the sousaphone covers to spell out a completely unacceptable, racist term. The fourth student, a junior, who carried one of the letters spelling out the word, appears to have gone along with the plan at the last minute. However, all four of the students knew what was going to happen and knew what they were spelling out during the halftime show.” 

 

 

[Fran Haring]

6 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

In college marching band I recall [IN PRACTICE ONLY] when a few radical trombone squads collapsed the B into an F when we spelled Buckeyes the week we were playing Ohio State.  But they weren't stupid enough to do it during the game performance.

LOL.... with DCA's Sunrisers, in 1981-82 we spelled out "S-U-N" during our "Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor" concert tune.

We jokingly considered changing the "N" to a "K" just for the National Dream contest one year.

[Ghost]

7 hours ago, SFZFAN said:

My high school drumline often spelled out things by using black tape on the bottom of the cymbal player's shoes. Never anything racist, just little messages to our competition. I vividly remember the judge's tape as he read out loud: "Eat Me Mayfield" and laughing out loud as the cymbals were on their knees with the snareline playing the cymbals.

The BD had a message on the soles of their cymbal players in one of their 70’s finals performance.

[Jeff Ream]

8 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Yeah, but for something like this, as they sing in South Pacific, "you have to be carefully taught" (or as they sing in Into the Woods, "children will listen"). In other words, kids willing to joke about racial slurs in public often come from families where that sort of thing is tolerated.

I do not disagree. But as we see in society today, common sense and courtesy as well as tolerance for things not as you prefer them are lacking and can't be forced on people no matter how hard we try