Unlike the rest of Iowa, Perry High School's student population is 48 percent people of color, and its boys basketball team consists of African American, Latino, and Native American players. During a recent game against conference opponent Dallas Center-Grimes, those players walked into a gymnasium filled with white faces chanting, "TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!" in an effort to psych them out.
"It's honestly disrespectful. That's how I take it. I hear it during the game, on and off the court. Everywhere I go," senior Shammond Ivory told WHO-TV.
Perry High student section leader Kevin Lopez called the Dallas Center-Grimes crowd out for its racist behavior. "We are all aware of racism, it's alive and well in small portions but it's alive and well, and it's just hurtful to see that's what they resort to," Lopez said.
Perry High School's principal, Dan Marburger, said that the problem has also spread to social media. "We had an Instagram issue two weeks ago with a conference school, and I'll say the school administrators took care of it very well."
However, students have found a way to turn the anger they feel over the racist chants into positive energy on the court. "As soon as I hear something like that, it just triggers me and it makes me strive for more and to do it for my team, coaches and my community," Ivory said.
It seems like the effort has been noticed, as Coach Ned Menke received the Iowa High School Association's "Character Counts Coach of The Year" award last Monday.
While Steve Watson, activities director Dallas Center-Grimes, said the Trump chanting issue has been "addressed," he hasn't commented on whether or not any students were disciplined for their actions.
Watch WHO-TV's full report at this link.
pied pipers come in all shapes and sizes, why so much hate for one over the other? It seems like Trump is getting all the blame for the puppet show that's been around since the beginning.