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Several members of a Georgia high school band are in hot water after the big letters attached to their subaphones expressed a racial insult during a show at halftime on Friday night.
Some members of the band at Brookwood High School use instrument covers that, when properly aligned, spell out the nickname of the school, "Broncos". On Friday, however, some letters were rearranged and spelled out as anti-black insults.
The director Bo Ford said Monday in a statement that it was a joke: "As promised, we opened an investigation into this and I wanted to share with you our current findings and the steps we take with the students involved. After in-depth interviews with many students, we determined that three seniors intentionally planned and executed the use of sousaphone coverage to clarify a totally unacceptable racist term. The fourth student, a junior, who wore one of the letters spelling out the word, seems to have adhered to the plan at the last minute. However, the four students knew what was going to happen and what they were saying during the halftime show. In our interviews, students – including two African Americans, an Asian and a Hispanic – said that it was a joke, one they thought was funny. However, they acknowledged that they knew that this racist term was not acceptable. We identified two other students who do not seem to be involved in planning and running but who actually provided false information to school officials. All six of these students will receive disciplinary consequences commensurate with their involvement in this incident. "
In a letter, Ford had previously apologized to parents and the community, saying the half-time show was "offensive and disrespectful to audience members."
"It was also disappointing because it did not reflect the standards and beliefs of our school and our community," he continued, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Members of a high school group in Georgia used letters on their instruments to spell a racial insult.
(Courtesy of Shawn Myers)
The Sousaphone is a large horn instrument that envelops the player. The group uses blankets on the mouth of the cone when sitting in the stands, but the covers should have been removed during the halftime show, Ford said.
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He stated that the field activities were "very busy" and that "several staff problems" during high-level night activities prevented the group director from going to the field during the performance.
"In this spirit, when the sousaphone players took the field, they did not follow the rules of the group and normal practices, but they left the holsters on their instruments," said Ford.
Some parents told Fox 5 that they wanted to see the responsible students expelled.
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"You're pretty daring at senior night, it means your parents, your grandparents are there … are you bold enough to spell those words and stay long enough for everyone to take pictures?" Shawn Myers, whose son is a freshman in the band, told Fox 5. "That's not fair."
She added, "It's not a raccoon. The mascot is a horse, it's a bronco, and the symbols "B" and "R" were nowhere. "
Frank Miles of Fox News contributed to this report.
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