FAITH, S.D. (KELO) — A South Dakota high school is cancelling its rodeo club’s “Slave/Branding Auction” event because of social media backlash.
This was the post going around social media for the event, which shows the Faith High School Rodeo Club hosting a pancake supper and a pie auction along with the “slave/branding auction,” scheduled for Monday.
Faith is a city of about 360 people roughly 120 miles northeast of Rapid City, S.D.
The Faith School District Superintendent, Kelly Daughters, told NewsNation affiliate KELO that the school has nothing to do with the event.
“Slave Auctions” have been around in several communities in the state for at least a decade. The idea is that rodeo club members are auctioned off chores for the highest bidder.
According to the Pierre Capitol Journal, in 2012, a Black resident asked the Pierre/Fort Pierre High School Rodeo Club to change the name of its slave auction event because it was offensive, but the club refused to do so. That club hasn’t had a slave auction in a couple of years.
Texas high school students faced backlash for holding a virtual slave auction where they bid on their classmates.