Four high school students attending Camarillo High School in California were ejected from a basketball game and reportedly suspended for chanting “U.S.A! U.S.A!” and wearing American flag bandanas, Todd Starnes reported at Fox News on Wednesday.
After complying with orders to remove the patriotic bandanas, the four boys led a chant of “U.S.A! U.S.A!”
Believing the chant to be racist, the boys were kicked out of the game and given a five-day suspension.
The punishment was rescinded, but according to school administrators, the "incident is far from over.”
Oxnard Union School District superintendent Gabe Soumakian said he believed the chant had racial undertones, considering the demographic makeup of the opposing team.
“It has nothing to do with being patriotic or unpatriotic,” Soumakian told Fox News. “it has to do with the fact that they are making a chant regarding that we are from the USA and you’re not. Whether that’s the implied intent, that’s the way it comes across.”
According to the Ventura County Star, Camarillo High School principal Glenn Lipman said he was okay with students chanting out of patriotism.
“If we’re doing it for patriotism, that’s fine. But if we’re doing it for something else that’s racially motivated, I’m not going to allow that,” he said.
Austin Medeiros, one of the students ejected from the game, said he was motivated by patriotism, not racism.
“I will always be proud of where I come from and what my flag represents,” he said on Twitter. “No matter what anyone tells me! I stand up for what I believe in!”
“We’ve done it always,” he told the Star. “It’s something we do. It’s the same group of friends. We always talk about it. We’re all very patriotic.”
"Both schools," Starnes wrote, "have a large Hispanic student population."
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