High school band members in Texas are being punished after the school determined the team’s gift basket to a rival school displayed “racial insensitivity.”
KTRK reports seven band members at Atascocita High School in Humble, Texas, allegedly face suspension after giving their rival team a gift basket that included “a small watermelon, coconut, pineapple and watermelon gum.”
Humble Independent School District told KTRK the school would not tolerate this kind of “racial insensitivity”:
"It is a tradition for student representatives of competing schools to exchange gifts on the field at varsity football games. On Friday, students from one school presented students from the other school with a watermelon, a pineapple, a coconut, and watermelon gum. Today, school administrators conducted an investigation and after considering the totality of the circumstances, determined that the gift was inappropriate and lacked good sportsmanship. Atascocita High School will not tolerate racial insensitivity."
The band members, however, maintain they were just following the tradition of good sportsmanship and were not trying to be racist.
Senior Alyssa Taylor told KTRK, "I'm mixed [race]. I don't take offense to that. How can someone else take offense?”
According to demographic information, Atascocita High School is 44.23 percent white, 30.02 percent Hispanic, and 20.26 percent African American. Their rival school, Summer Creek High School, is 14.73 percent white, 38.86 percent Hispanic, and 40.90 percent African American.