A Texas school district has banned a football team T-shirt with the slogan 'Shhhhhhh just let it happen' after questions over whether the message could also have a rape innuendo. The issue came up after Arlington Martin High School's bi-monthly newspaper raised concerns about the shirt in a staff editorial. The shirt was designed by senior football team members and printed by the football booster club. It reads 'Martin Football' in big gray letters above an image of a Native American man that represents the school's Warrior mascot. Scroll down for video... Double meaning? An editorial in the school newspaper suggested that the slogan also implied rape rather than just power on the football field . Taking charge: The Warrior Post's editor-in-chief Jerred Osterman, 18, a Martin senior, said that the paper's staff was motivated to write its editorial after a female student had concerns over the T-shirt . Checking it: Osterman said neither he nor his staff questions the motivation of the players or their message of team unity behind the shirt — only the wording of the message and how it might be perceived. To the left of the man is a pirate flag, with a skull and crossbones, along with the words 'We take what we want,' and below the flag is the phrase 'Shhhhhhh just let it happen.' The editorial read: 'The shirt's main message is to state the player's idea that there is no need for the opponent to put up a fight in letting our team take the ball away from them . 'Can this saying be easily misunderstood? Yes. Though it certainly was not the goal of the shirt, its slogan connotes rape culture. This is not what we want to display as a slogan for our Varsity football program,' the editorial reads. The Warrior Post's editor-in-chief Jerred Osterman, 18, a Martin senior, told NBC 5 that the paper's staff was motivated to write its editorial after a female student approached a news staff member with concerns over the T-shirt. Martin coach Bob Wager and booster club president Kevin White said they never considered the message on the shirt to be potentially inappropriate . 'It's inappropriate, and it's not something that you want to represent Martin with,' Osterman said. School sensitivities: How the article appeared in the Warrior Post - the school newspaper . Growing population: 280 children go to school at the Arlington Martin High School in Arlington, Texas . 'It's inappropriate, and it's not something that you want to represent The Martin School with,' Osterman said. The coach of the team, Bob Wager, said that they did not consider the shirt to be inappropriate or offensive in any way adding that they would never have allowed it to be made or worn. He said it referred to 'the act of piracy, taking what you want. What we want is the football'. School district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston said that officials believed the team had not intended to be offensive but that the t-shirts had been banned. 'Certainly the booster club and the coaches, nobody construed it in that manner,' said Leslie Johnston, director of communications for Arlington ISD, who estimates that around 50 of the shirts were printed. 'They were never intended or thought to have any meaning other than a football-related meaning — taking yardage, the ball.' 'They just thought it was a football shirt. And when that was pointed out, that it could be taken in that way the students have, they are no longer wearing them.'
School in Texas has banned students from wearing its football team's t-shirts, following concerns that they promote rape culture .
Arlington Martin High School football seniors wore the shirts for team unity .
They include the phrases: 'We take what we want' and 'Shhhhhhh, just let it happen'
A Texas school district has banned a football team T-shirt with the slogan 'Shhhhhhh just let it happen' after questions over whether the message could also have a rape innuendo. The issue came up after Arlington Martin High School's bi-monthly newspaper raised concerns about the shirt in a staff editorial. The shirt was designed by senior football team members and printed by the football booster club. It reads 'Martin Football' in big gray letters above an image of a Native American man that represents the school's Warrior mascot. Scroll down for video... Double meaning? An editorial in the school newspaper suggested that the slogan also implied rape rather than just power on the football field . Taking charge: The Warrior Post's editor-in-chief Jerred Osterman, 18, a Martin senior, said that the paper's staff was motivated to write its editorial after a female student had concerns over the T-shirt . Checking it: Osterman said neither he nor his staff questions the motivation of the players or their message of team unity behind the shirt — only the wording of the message and how it might be perceived. To the left of the man is a pirate flag, with a skull and crossbones, along with the words 'We take what we want,' and below the flag is the phrase 'Shhhhhhh just let it happen.' The editorial read: 'The shirt's main message is to state the player's idea that there is no need for the opponent to put up a fight in letting our team take the ball away from them . 'Can this saying be easily misunderstood? Yes. Though it certainly was not the goal of the shirt, its slogan connotes rape culture. This is not what we want to display as a slogan for our Varsity football program,' the editorial reads. The Warrior Post's editor-in-chief Jerred Osterman, 18, a Martin senior, told NBC 5 that the paper's staff was motivated to write its editorial after a female student approached a news staff member with concerns over the T-shirt. Martin coach Bob Wager and booster club president Kevin White said they never considered the message on the shirt to be potentially inappropriate . 'It's inappropriate, and it's not something that you want to represent Martin with,' Osterman said. School sensitivities: How the article appeared in the Warrior Post - the school newspaper . Growing population: 280 children go to school at the Arlington Martin High School in Arlington, Texas . 'It's inappropriate, and it's not something that you want to represent The Martin School with,' Osterman said. The coach of the team, Bob Wager, said that they did not consider the shirt to be inappropriate or offensive in any way adding that they would never have allowed it to be made or worn. He said it referred to 'the act of piracy, taking what you want. What we want is the football'. School district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston said that officials believed the team had not intended to be offensive but that the t-shirts had been banned. 'Certainly the booster club and the coaches, nobody construed it in that manner,' said Leslie Johnston, director of communications for Arlington ISD, who estimates that around 50 of the shirts were printed. 'They were never intended or thought to have any meaning other than a football-related meaning — taking yardage, the ball.' 'They just thought it was a football shirt. And when that was pointed out, that it could be taken in that way the students have, they are no longer wearing them.'
A Texas school district has banned a football team words 'We take what we want,' and below the flag is the phrase 'Shhhhhhh just let it happen.' The Arlington Martin High School in Arlington, Texas that around 50 of the shirts were printed. 'They