WBRZ - Baton Rouge

Coca-Cola probably didn't think its idea to hold a national step contest would generate a debate with racial overtones.  A white team from a sorority at the University of Arkansas won the traditional African American routine. The rhythmic clapping and foot stomping known as step are thought to have started with black fraternities and sororities.  The uproar began when the Zeta Tau Alpha team from Arkansas won the Sprite Step Off competition in Atlanta last weekend.  A YouTube video of the performance generated hundreds of comments, some of them racially-charged. Sponsor Coca-Cola said this week there were "scoring discrepancies." It said the runner-up, a black team from Indiana University, would share first-place.  That team is from the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.