ANCHORAGE (AP) — Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District said it is investigating allegations of racist behavior during a high school basketball game, where some students dressed in Western attire, such as cowboy hats, as their boys basketball team played at home against Metlakatla.
Latonya Galles, whose son plays for the Metlakatla Chiefs, told Anchorage television station KTUU the way fans of the Ketchikan High School Kings were dressed was inappropriate.
“It was just really, really bad, and racism was definitely present,” said Galles, who attended the game Feb. 4.
The pep club’s decision to dress in a “country” theme for the game in Ketchikan was offensive to many of the players and parents from Metlakatla, the state’s only Native American reserve.
For many Native Americans, portrayals of “cowboys and Indians” conjure offensive stereotypes of tribal members.
The school had posted an apology “for the cultural insensitivity shown” at the game. The post was no longer on the school’s Facebook page Feb. 9.
The Ketchikan school district, in a separate post that also was no longer visible Feb. 9, said it was looking into the situation and would take “all appropriate actions to ensure our schools and students uphold the highest standard of sportsmanship, respect, and hospitality.”
The Kayhi Pep Club, in an apology circulating last Friday, said: “In retrospect and upon reflection, there was an underlying offensive connection to historical atrocities. We fully acknowledge the cultural insensitivity of the theme and apologize for the harm that it has caused toward Metlakatla and in our own community.”
KTUU-TV reported that Superintendent Melissa Johnson said the Ketchikan High School pep squad had told the district it scheduled a “country theme” for the game against Metlakatla. Going forward, the school will have a plan regarding how students dress and will “make sure that whatever theme that we choose is culturally sensitive and appropriate,” she told Ketchikan radio station KRBD.
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