Before we get to Exhibit A, the photo, let me provide a brief description of what is not in it. You will see no faces that are not Caucasian. That’s because this school, Big Lake High, is in Minnesota, which — like it or not — is a predominantly white state. Blacks and Hispanics make up only 5% and 4% of the population respectively. That is of course strictly a matter of personal preference: People of color could live in Minnesota if they wanted to. Besides, race is not the problem.
Neither is sex. Yes, there only five females on a team that boasts some four dozen members. But that breakdown is hardly atypical of high school athletic teams. The varsity football team at most schools have zero girls.
So what is the problem? Here’s the picture. See if you can figure out for yourself why it was almost banned from the year book.
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In case you can’t tell, those are shotguns the students are holding. Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO explains:
A picture of a high school trap shooting team may not make it into the yearbook because the team posed with their most important tools; their guns.
…[I]t’s against school policy to have firearms in a picture.
A day after the original report appeared, a followup story indicated that the decision had been overturned and that the photo would be permitted to run.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that this was ever an issue at all.
By the way, lest this story be a total loss for social justice warriors, it should be noted that the coach of the team is a woman:
