At an Idalou High School basketball game in Texas, students were chanting "USA, USA, USA." Sounds harmless right? According to their superintendent though, they will not be able to do this anymore.
The Idalou fans were predominantly white and other team was predominantly Hispanic, but unless every person from that school is an illegal alien, banning the chant of the countries name we all reside in seems a bit much.
Slaton Superintendent Julee Becker told My San Antonio:
“I believe that we are a microcosm in schools of greater society. That’s what we are. The symptoms of racism, they run deep."
Idalou Superintendent Jim Waller apologized and released this statement:
“I apologize to Slaton ISD and the chanting will not be allowed to continue at games because of the perception that it creates. We understand competitiveness and school excitement and support, but we need to be supportive in our words to our team and not use words that may be interpreted as insensitive to an opposing team."
According to Downtrend, in a previous "incident of USA chanting the students were disciplined and it should be noted some of the students chanting USA were Hispanic.
Downtrend reports:
"In Border States with heavy Latino populations, it’s not uncommon to see fans at youth sporting events with Mexican flags. They are also likely to lead chants and cheers in Spanish. Calling this incident racist presumes (and probably rightly so) that Latinos, even when they are here legally or actual citizens, have no allegiance to the country. . ."
H/T Downtrend