Really America…really? Has it come to this, that the word “bro” is considered to be racist, even when it’s used as part of an Internet meme that’s been around for years?

Apparently it has, at least in parts of Ohio. Near the end of a high school football game between Kirtland and Painesville Harvey, a group of Kirtland students and parents raised a sign that read “You Mad Bro?” which, for the uninformed, is a popular meme designed “to make a raging person rage even more by asking the most ironic question,” as per the Urban Dictionary.

Some people took offense to the sign, not because it was a show of poor sportsmanship, but because of it’s racial undertones.

Seriously.

From Fox 8 Cleveland…

“At the conclusion of the game, some of their students and parents put up a sign that we believe was racial intimidation, ethnic intimidation,” said Roderick Coffee, president of the Lake County chapter of the NAACP, who was also at the game.

“For them to put it up there that was bad sportsmanship, too,” Painesville Harvey football player, Jerome Becks said.

Does the NAACP have nothing better to do? I normally try to stay away from any issues of a racial nature, but this is just so stupid, that I will step up on my soapbox and bloviate on the subject at hand.

True, the sign was in poor taste, from a sportsmanship perspective. But racial intimidation? Hardly, unless someone can show me concrete proof that the word “bro” is a term of derision toward a particular ethnic group. Further to the point, this is an example of the Internet showing up in the real world, and not to sound ageist, but some folks over the age of 30 just don’t understand memes and how they work.

The school plans on conducting a full investigation. Let’s hope all they find is that people have become way too sensitive in this PC driven day and age.

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