Out of Step: Victory of All-White Team in National Stepping Competition Leads to Controversy and Then Elevation of African-American Team

There is an interesting controversy brewing in Atlanta where an all-white Zeta Tau Alpha team from the University of Arkansas won this year’s step competition — a traditionally black competition. The victory unleashed a torrent of criticism from fans who felt that white teams should be barred. The controversy then grew when Sprite suddenly announced that unexplained “scoring discrepancies” resulted in a black team being elevated to a tie with Arkansas and given a co-first place standing. This is a video of “The Matrix” performance of the Arkansas team

The Arkansas team beat out five other sorority teams in the national finals.

It would appear an obvious matter for the sponsor to explain the voting discrepancy in light of the controversy. I find that controversy perfectly bizarre. It is a testament to the judges that they did not let race interfere with their scoring. It is also a testament to the black community that stepping has become so successful outside of black colleges. For those people crying foul on the Internet, they need to seriously consider what they are saying when they want to ban teams on the basis of race.

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