NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) — Officials at a predominantly white middle school in southern Indiana plan to apologize for costumes students wore to a basketball game that sparked allegations of racism.
Three New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. officials said Monday they'll write a letter of apology to Parkview Middle School for the costumes.
A handful of students at the district's Highland Hills Middle School wore black masks, including a gorilla mask and one featuring President Barack Obama's likeness, to a Feb. 7 eighth-grade basketball game between the schools.
The parents of some students at Parkview, a Jeffersonville middle school with several African American students and basketball players, questioned if racism was involved.
New Albany's NAACP branch President Nicole Yates says some of the masks have long been recognized as racial insults to blacks.
