Five cheerleaders for the football team at Kennesaw State University decided to take part in national anthem protests by kneeling before games last season, and there was some question of whether or not they would do it again when the team had its first game of 2018 on Thursday night. Four of the young women did not have the opportunity.
Ashley Johnson of 11Alive learned this week that four of the five cheerleaders who kneeled during the national anthem last season did not make the squad this year. While the school attributes their being cut to significantly more cheerleaders trying out for the squad this year, one of the women who didn’t make it told 11Alive she believes the protest was used against her.
“I know the people who made it. I know their skills and I know my skills,” Toomia Dean said. “But I don’t think it was a skills-based thing. Not to say I’m amazing or anything, but I know my skills and what I had.”
Dean also told Johnson that her and the three others girls being cut from the team is “what happens when you take a stand.”
KSU says there were 92 applicants this year to fill 52 spots as opposed to the 61 applicants the cheerleading squad had a year ago. Seven prospective cheerleaders who were on the team last year did not make this year’s team, and of those seven four took part in anthem protests.
After the five cheerleaders kneeled a year ago, KSU banned anthem protests before games. However, Georgia’s attorney general said students at a public university could kneel as long as they weren’t causing a disruption, and the school later lifted the ban.
NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is responsible for starting the widespread movement of kneeling during the national anthem, and we have seen the ripple effect from it at both the collegiate and high school levels.
