The members of a California high school basketball team barred from participating in a tournament because they continued to wear "I can't breathe" T-shirts, plan a rally Monday, according to a local newspaper.

Members of the Mendocino High School girls basketball team will meet outside the Fort Bragg High School for what a poster said would be a peaceful exercise of free speech rights and to raise awareness of racism and police brutality, said the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The coastal communities to the north of San Francisco were thrust into the national spotlight this weekend after the athletic director at Fort Bragg High School said that neither boys nor girls teams from Mendocino would be allowed to participate in the three-day tournament hosted by Fort Bragg out of concerns the players would wear T-shirts printed with the words "I can't breathe."