School where fans displayed Trump flag pulls out of MLK game

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota high school where fans displayed a President Donald Trump re-election flag has pulled out of a basketball invitational hosted by a Minneapolis school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The Jordan High School boys’ basketball team was scheduled to play Minneapolis Patrick Henry High School Henry on Monday in the MLK Showcase at Minneapolis Roosevelt.

Some Jordan fans displayed a Trump banner when Roosevelt visited Jordan last week. Jordan is a rural, overwhelmingly white community. Roosevelt’s coach says his team is predominantly black.

Henry coach Jamil Jackson says organizers of the invitational were told Jordan feared something might happen to the players if they came to Roosevelt to play.

But Jordan Superintendent Matthew Helgerson says, “Fear was not our reason.”

Helgerson tells the Star Tribune in an email that the team did not want its presence at the event “to detract from the athletes.”

___

Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com