During a high school basketball game, students who apparently supported Donald Trump shouted “build a wall” at the opposing team. The more diverse crowd of the other school screamed back citing racism.

Two Similar Incidents

The basketball game was between the students from Andrean High School in Merrillville and the predominantly Hispanic Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond on Friday, Feb. 26. According to Fox News, Donald J. Hying, diocese of Gary Bishop, said that the Andrean students initiated the heated exchange of words and that the incident is currently being investigated. The school administrators at Andrean confiscated the items that the students brought at the match.

"Any actions or words that can be perceived as racist or derogatory to others are antithetical to the Christian faith and will not be tolerated in any of our institutions," Hying said.

The Catholic bishop in Northern Indiana also denounced the students who were waving a photo of Trump and shouting about building a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Officials from Andrean, Bishop Noll and the diocese gathered on Sunday, Feb. 28, to set their objectives towards the future.

Rick Piwowarski, principal at Andrean, stated that they will ensure that all the staff and students understand their obligations of responsibility, sportsmanship and acceptance. They have and continue to have high expectations for all the members of their school community.

On the other hand, Bishop Noll's principal Craig Stafford and school president Paul Mullaney stated that the incident may be an unfortunate byproduct of irresponsible speech in the current political scene. The two school heads added that their school is proud of its diverse student population and that the incident should serve as a lesson for everyone regarding "responsible speech, sportsmanship and social media."

New York Daily News noted that a similar event took place late in February 2016 between two Midwest high schools, where students from the predominantly white Dallas Center-Grimes High School in Iowa began chanting Trump’s name after they lost to the more diverse Perry High School.

A New Hate Speech

Latino activities believe that the billionaire’s name has become a new hate speech. Joe Enriquez Henry, National Vice President of the Midwest Region for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said that people who have racist viewpoints have been able to use “Trump” as a code-phrase for derogatory and racist comments, writes Free Republic.