HS marching band members walk off field during national anthem; spectators reportedly curse at them

Thirteen members of an Iowa high school marching band linked arms and walked off the field in protest as fellow band members played "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a Friday night home football game, the Des Moines Register reported.

What went down?

• Some spectators cursed at protesting members of the Ames High School marching band as they walked off the field, sophomore Lara Murray told the paper.
• A number of fellow band members who remained on the field decided not to play their instruments, the Register added.
• The protesting band members originally planned to take a knee, but principal Spence Evans told them they had to walk off the field instead, students told the paper.

What did protesting band members have to say?

• "How can we be unified if there's racism, sexism and homophobia in our school?" Murray added to the Register. "I had a lot of second thoughts on it, but I thought I was going to regret it more if I didn't do something."
• "We wanted to make this a movement, not a trend," Petr Karpov told the paper, noting the protest wasn't meant to demean the flag or military. "It was for taking a stand against racial prejudice."
• "It was an expression of my anger and sadness in the direction our country is heading," Kira Davis added to the Register. "It’s to express I stand with people who are feeling persecuted or marginalized by the current president or people in power."
• "I felt like not doing it just because there was a lot of hate and suppression would defeat the entire purpose," Owen Murphy told the paper. "The idea of hate is to make people fear standing out."

How did the band director react?

• Band director Chris Ewan declined to comment to the Register about the band members' protest.

What else happened before the game?

• The Ames student section planned on wearing America-themed clothing to the game, but administrators told them to choose a different theme, which became a hot topic on social media and at school Friday, the paper reported.

• But a school district tweet said the theme-change decision was from the students.

(H/T: Todd Starnes)