SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -
The boys basketball state championship game was a heated and memorable overtime thriller between St. Johnsbury Academy and Rice Memorial High School. But what's grabbing headlines now is a full page poster hoping to rally Academy team spirit before the game that has people after the fact wondering why the Caledonian Record would print it this way.
"My immediate reaction was...really? Someone thought this was a good idea?" Rice Principal Father Bernard Bourgeois said.
Father Bourgeois wasn't a fan of the poster that has some people saying it has racist undertones. The poster says "Go 'Toppers" and underneath in a font that mimics Chinese calligraphy says "Fry Rice."
"I've seen enough athletics in my seven years here as principal that people leave their brains at the door sometimes and that's what happened here," Father Bourgeois said.
The Asian American Journalists Association hopes it was just a lapse of judgement too, saying the insert appalled them and the type face used made it offensive.
The Cal-Rec's poster ended up getting a lot of attention but Father Bourgeois says if anything should have made the headlines it's that Rice ended up on top.
"The community allows too much drama into these games. Let's let the kids play the game on the floor. That's what counts. That's what matters," Father Bourgeois said.
Rice's trophy now sits proudly in the school office but Father Bourgeois says the school is vacant of tabloid talk.
St. Johnsbury Academy says it's also absent of blame and in a statement from Headmaster Tom Lovett said "we understand that the use of a culturally identifiable font is deemed by some to be culturally insensitive. Once we realized that some could be offended, we did our best to remove the signs from our cheering section."
"Overall, our students often see such things as a way to celebrate their culture, not demean it, and in this case, we chose to follow our students' lead and look at the Caledonian's intent, not taking offense where none was intended."
"I know the Academy had nothing to do with this and have distanced themselves quite well from that and I'm thankful to them as well for that," Father Bourgeois said.
The only party left yet to give their input is the Caledonian Record. They told us that Saturday they will publish an editorial on the poster. The Asian American Journalists Association hopes the editorial acknowledges a lapse in taste and judgement.
