Marching band sousaphones spell out racial slur during Friday night football game
.png "The Principal of Brookwood High in Snellville, Georgia apologized after the marching band spelled a racist slur. Letters on sousaphones spelled a racial slur and students were disciplined, according to the principal. The slur has been censored here.")
A Georgia principal apologized after members of a high school marching band spelled out a racial slur with their instruments at a Friday night football game in Gwinnett County, CBS 46 reported.
“We are a very inclusive community and we care about all of our students. We are concerned that this situation occurred and are committed to taking steps to ensure this does not happen again,” Brookwood High School principal WIlliam Ford said in a letter. “In addition to reviewing our halftime procedures, we will also be taking disciplinary action with the students involved.”
The incident happened during a game Friday between Brookwood High and Lakeside High. The marching band took to the field and performed their show, but sometime during the performance, letters affixed to the top of the sousaphones spelled out the word “c--n,” a racial slur for black people, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“It isn’t a raccoon,” parent Shawn Myers said, according to Fox 5. “The mascot is a horse, it’s a bronco, and the “B” and the “R” were nowhere near ... Haven’t heard it in years, it’s to belittle black people, it’s an insult. It’s just like saying the n-word, but this is worse because it’s coming from students at a public high school.”
The principal said the letters were not supposed to have been left on the instruments during the performance.
“The covers spell out BRONCOS and some of them feature our Bronco mascot. Our band does not wear these covers on the field because they shield the sound and because during the halftime show our band members move around the field and do not stand in the same order as they do in the stands,” the principal wrote.
When the band members went on the field and performed the show, some students “did not follow band rules and normal practice” and left the covers on, spelling out the “completely unacceptable, racial term,” Ford wrote.
The game, an annual ‘Senior Night” event, was unusually busy and resulted in the band director not being on the field when the performance started, the principal said.
“Not only was the appearance of this term during our halftime show hurtful and disrespectful to audience members, it also was disappointing, as it does not reflect the standards and beliefs of our school and community,” he wrote.
Halftime procedures are being reviewed and the school could not comment on any potential punishments for staff members, the AJC reported.
This story was originally published November 5, 2018 at 8:16 AM.