'Put the panic back in Hispanic:' Pep rally sign causing controversy

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- An Alabama high school pep rally sign is causing controversy nationwide.

The image shows two students and what looks like a Robertsdale High School mascot at a pep rally, with one girl holding a Trump sign and another with one that read "Put the panic back in Hispanic."

"That's just disrespectful. That's just ignorant," student Jennifer Lopez said.

Lopez, who is Hispanic, said she feels victimized by the display at her very own school.

"I really don't see a point in why they did that because there's really not that many Hispanics really in our school, and they knew it was like Hispanic Month," said Lopez.

A lawyer representing one of the girls in the photo said the point was not to insult classmates.

"What happened is this is a kind of sophomoric or juvenile joke that's kind of gotten out of control," attorney Domingo Soto said.

He explained that his client was trying to poke fun at the opposing football team called the Spanish Fort.

"Spanish and Hispanic. It was a pun, and the Trump thing just kind of put it in context of the actual racial slight," he said.

After hundreds of shares, it's become a message spread beyond school lines.

"That's bullying to me. I feel like nobody should be bullied at all because somebody can take it the wrong way. You don't know how someone would react to it," student Myeshia Parker said.

The post prompted Parker to reach out to the school district, even though she's a student at another school.

"I said, 'This is not okay whatsoever. This is at Robertsdale High School and that is so disrespectful to others.'"

The Baldwin County superintendent responded to both Parker and Local 15 saying they've seen the post containing the "unacceptable language" and will be "following up on the matter."

The school hasn't released any other information about what actions they will take, if any.

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