An Indiana Catholic high school, Andrean High School, is under fire after some fans showed up to a basketball game against Latino rivals with Donald Trump masks while chanting “build a wall.” Now people are stepping up to ask why teachers didn’t stop the “racist” chants and say that the school’s administration is responsible for the students’ behavior.
The Daily Mail reports that students from Andrean High School , which as an $8,600 per year private Catholic school, showed up to a basketball game against rivals from Bishop Noll Institute with Donald Trump masks and racist chants. The report indicates that students from Andrean High School put on Donald Trump masks as they chanted “build a wall, build a wall” to the opposing team which was made up mostly of Latino students. The students allegedly held additional signs that read “ESPN Deportes.”
Fans from Bishop Noll allegedly chanted back “you are racist.” The incident was first reported by a fan at the Bishop Noll game Ashley Howard. The woman who says she was at the game to support a family member took to Facebook to bash teachers and administrators at Andrean High School for not stepping in and stopping students from chanting racially divisive statements such as “build a wall” or holding up signs that read “ESPN Deportes.” Howard posted about the incident along with photographs of the Andrean “super fan” section while tagging a number of major news outlets in her post.
Needless to say, many people were outraged by the photos and recollection of the events that transpired at the game. With the post going viral , many media outlets responded.
As you can see from the original post, the “ESPN Deportes” sign is visible along with the large Donald Trump head cutout. Howard, along with others at the game, say “build a wall” and “we speak English” was chanted at the team from the Andrean High School students at the Bishop Noll fans who have a large percentage of Latino students. The NWI Gazette reports that the Trump signage was only the beginning.
Other students took photos of a Dora the Explorer sign that was posted at the basketball game that showed a picture of the cartoon character Dora with an arrow pointing to an image of a Hispanic character from Family Guy who is a maid. The signs, NWI reports, were designed to imply that “Dora is going to be a maid” simply because she is Hispanic.
The Bishop Noll’s students say that the Andrean High School used an “American” theme to belittle the Latino students at Nolls and that many of the students were wearing red, white, and blue along with items that showed American flags. Now many parents and fans, like Howard , are asking why teachers and administrators did not step in to stop the racist chants and signage from entering the basketball game.
“When do we as adults, teachers, parents, and principals teach the youth what is inappropriate. Is the bible really the backbone of your catholic school when you allow more than unsportsmanlike behavior, you allow your students to taunt with racism.”
Though the media has focused on Ashley Howard’s account of the events, the students at Andrean High School are responding noting that Bishop Noll has engaged in similar behaviors in the past so the Trump chants were retaliation for prior alleged racist statements made towards Andrean students by Noll students.
@ABC7Chicago I think it’s important to discuss that Bishop Noll Institute has engaged in racist remarks for countless years previous
— Lukus Berber (@lukus_berber) February 28, 2016
* Andrean And Bishop Noll Say Things Towards Each Other EVERY YEAR… Sooo Why Is This Any Different?
— Shalyssa Gates™ (@derrick__rosee) February 28, 2016
In fact, a Twitter user has shared photo that reportedly shows Bishop Noll students holding a similar ESPN Deportes sign last year when playing against Andrean.
@Brios7 @katieee_gracee Also, Bishop Noll with the “Deportes” sign last year. pic.twitter.com/mljO3i8c3S
— clayvin (@calhaislip33) February 28, 2016
What do you think about the Andrean and Noll rivalry taking on racist tones? Is Andrean justified in their actions if Noll has held similar signage in the past or should school officials have gotten involved earlier?
[Image via Facebook/Ashley Howard ]
