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Alleged fans of all-white high school basketball team send racist tweets after win

Students from Howell High School took to Twitter on Thursday after the boys basketball team’s 54-49 win over Grand Blanc.

By Evan Bleier

A "white" Michigan high school basketball team, which has supporters that celebrated a win last week by posting racist messages on Twitter, will continue tournament play on Tuesday.

Several students from Howell High School went on Twitter on Thursday after the boys basketball team’s 54-49 win over Grand Blanc in the Class A regional final.

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Here are some of the tweets, according to The Flint Journal:

"Not only did we beat Grand Blanc but we're all white. Howell's the definite winner tonight."

"All hail white power. #HitlerIsMyDad"

"Tonight was probably one of the most racists nights of my life. I heard so many slurs and expressions. I also said a few things ..."

“ Following the game, a few Howell High School students engaged in disrespectful, offensive and inappropriate exchanges with students from Grand Blanc on the social media site Twitter,” according to a press release from Howell Public Schools. "Students at Howell High School reported the tweets to school administration who quickly began to investigate the situation."

The tweets also used hastags such as #kkk, #lightthehcross, #rosaparks and #wewhite.

According to Howell High School Principal Jason Schrock, the students who sent the tweets have been disciplined. "The school has responded to each instance and is moving forward," he said.

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“The actions of these select students is not reflective of Howell High School, our student athletes or the Howell community,” Schrock said. “The fact that it was our students who reported these offensive tweets speaks volumes about our student body who refuse to stand by when they witness this type of behavior.”

The team will face off against Mount Pleasant in a Class A quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 18.

Mount Pleasant coach Dan Schell is concerned with what will be happening on the court as opposed to what is happening on social media.

"I know more about basketball than Twitter anyway," Schell said. "I probably don't need to say anything to the players. They know more about Twitter than I do … "You don't want to say kids will be kids, but all they need is to push a button to say something ignorant. To hold a school or team or community hostage to what three or four students may have tweeted is not a fair thing to do.”

The winner of the quarterfinal game will move on to the semifinal game on Friday at Michigan State University's Breslin Center.

[MLive] [The Flint Journal]

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