White group’s step show win causes fiery debate over integration of traditional black activity

Online debate rages over white group’s step win

ATLANTA — A fiery debate is raging after a white team from an Arkansas sorority took top honors in a recent step competition in Atlanta.

The rhythmic clapping and foot stomping routines known as stepping are thought to have started in black fraternities and sororities.

The uproar began when the Zeta Tau Alpha team from the University of Arkansas, whose members are white, won the national final in the Sprite Step Off competition last weekend. A YouTube video of their winning performance generated hundreds of comments, some of them inflammatory.

This week sponsor Coca-Cola announced “scoring discrepancies” and said the runner-up — the Alpha Kappa Alpha team from Indiana University, whose members are black — would share first place.