ANACONDA — Parents from the Arlee Warriors basketball team are raising serious allegations of racial taunting and inappropriate behavior by Anaconda High School students during a recent basketball game.
Cammie Pablo, an Arlee Warriors parent, said she witnessed Anaconda students making what she described as racially motivated gestures and chants directed at the visiting team earlier this month.
"The student section I noticed kids were doing this, doing tomahawk chop and started chanting he's a baby," Pablo said.
Watch report here:
The situation escalated when Pablo's son was injured on the court, and she alleges the taunting continued as he left the game.
"They started chanted he's a baby, they chanted two or three times as he was coming off the court," Pablo said.
Pablo said four Arlee players were hurt during the game. She approached the Anaconda principal twice during the contest, asking him to address the student section's behavior.
"I went to find the principal for the second time and asked him to address his student section, I just felt it was extremely inappropriate and not that kind of conduct you should see at a basketball game," Pablo said.
Social media posts from other spectators began circulating after the incident, drawing wider attention to the allegations.
Anaconda Public Schools responded to the allegations in a statement to MTN News, saying they "received a complaint yesterday and we are initiating an investigation. We cannot comment on the allegations until the investigation is complete."
Arlee Public Schools did not respond to requests for comment but posted on Facebook that they are investigating the alleged incidents. The district stated that "multiple disciplinary actions have been issued on both sides, and the investigations remain ongoing at this time."
Brian Michelotti, executive director of the Montana High School Association, said both schools immediately contacted MHSA about the investigation.
"They came to the conclusion that there were not issues with the players on the court or the coaches or anything it was a hard fought game, and one of the teams won. There were some issues with fans on both sides and those have been addressed," Michelotti said.
Michelotti emphasized that each school is responsible for ensuring good sportsmanship and enforcing disciplinary actions, though the specific consequences have not been disclosed.
"Whether it be eyes or suspensions or whatever happens from those particular schools. Our schools did a really nice job of stepping in and moving forward there is a good situation between Anaconda and Arlee in this case," Michelotti said.
As Anaconda prepares to host the District 6B tournament later this month, the school posted on Facebook announcing new policies will be enforced in their gymnasium. The post stated they "want to ensure our gym remains a safe, positive, and high-energy environment for our student-athletes and fans alike."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
