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  • 2017-03-13 (xsd:date)
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  • Were Iowa High School Students Forced to Apologize for Wearing Patriotic Colors? (en)
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  • In early March 2017, a social media controversy erupted over a claim that Valley High School students in Iowa were allegedly berated and forced to apologize to students of Des Moines' North High School for wearing red, white, and blue garb to an 8 March 2017 school basketball game, an act that purportedly offended a number of refugees on the opposing team: A 13 March 2017 blog post asserted the students in question apologized for their patriotism in wearing USA-themed clothing to the game that was deemed offensive by rival players: The claims played on the common narrative that refugees who come to the U.S. share no love for America, and that they regularly express offense and contempt for expressions of American culture and history, but even local news coverage of the controversy didn't seem to support that common narrative. News accounts primarily jumped from discussing red, white, and blue clothing to the issuance of a hand delivered apology from Valley High students, without supplying any details about who was offended or the specific nature of the purported offense: An apology posted to Valley's Facebook page by the school's Student Council leadership reinforced the notion that Valley High students' sole offense had been the wearing of U.S.A. apparel: But an unrelated post on the Facebook page of North High School was rapidly besieged by out-of-state commenters who had read claims the rival team was forced to apologize for wearing patriotic colors, while self-identified locals asserted the apology was about the behavior of Valley High students who chanted deport them during the event: Commenters asserted that racial slurs shouted by Valley High students (not their USA clothing) was what prompted the apology, which was neither demanded nor requested by North High students: Some of those commenters linked to a September 2016 Des Moines Register article about racial tensions in the school district: That same newspaper reported North High coach Chad Ryan had acknowledged rumors that racial slurs and not patriotic attire were the cause of the dispute, but he declined to confirm whether any such slurs had actually been shouted during the game: Our requests for comment from school officials have not yet been responded to. (en)
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