'I Kneel For Unity In A Country That Needs It': Kennesaw State Cheerleader

KENNESAW, GA -- A group of cheerleaders who knelt at last Saturday's Kennesaw State University say they will continue to do the silent protest despite scrutiny from critics, according to news reports. Pictures and video taken at last week's game showed several cheerleaders taking a knee last week on the field.

Asked whether they were concerned about the opposition, one of the cheerleaders told local media that they are undeterred. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Tommia Dean told WXIA-TV: "Before we went out on the field, we all prayed. Together, we all prayed." Dean told the TV station that the protest needed to hit home on the local level. “So I felt like this was something I needed to do here, in Cobb County, as a Kennesaw State cheerleader,” she was quoted as saying.

KSU junior Shlondra Young, a cheerleader, took to social media to explain why she knelt at the game. "Today, I kneel for equality , I kneel for social injustice and I kneel for those who unjustly lost their lives and are no longer here to kneel for themselves. I kneel in a city where a Confederate culture still exists among some and issues such as this are often placed on the back burner . I kneel in a city where I am a minority. But most importantly, I kneel for unity in a country that needs it the most right now."

Kneeling or not for the national anthem has become a divisive issue after several NFL players this season, following the example of exiled pro quarterback Colin Kaepernick, chose to do the silent protest to raise awareness of social injustice. Via Twitter, Trump has put pressure on the league and its owners to come down hard on players who choose to silently protest by kneeling during the singing of the anthem.

The KSU cheerleaders have had their supporters but there has also been critics. Chief among them has been Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, who said he witnessed the kneeling incident at last week's game.

“My wife, Penny, had tears in her eyes, and we were both shocked to see such a lack of respect for our flag, our national anthem and the men and women that serve our nation,” Warren said, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. "To witness these ill-informed students acting this way clearly tells me KSU needs to get busy educating these students on more than just passing their classes. They need to learn all that the flag truly represents.”

Republian Sen. Earl Ehrhart, also criticized the cheerleaders for turning a sporting event into a political spectacle. "A University student cannot demand a taxpayer-supported platform, like a football field, for their political speech," he wrote to WXIA. "Leave the politics to the public square payed for and shared by all…”

On Oct. 9, Young said that a soldier gave her a token of his support. "Today on campus, I was presented with an army coin by someone who is currently serving in the military. He shared with me that in the military brave acts of courage are congratulated with coins and because of mine, he wanted to take the time to give me one of his. I say this to say that the main criticism from our act to highlight social injustice is that it is disrespectful to military. However , I ask you to ask yourself are you upset because you find it disrespectful, or upset because of the reason why we are kneeling?"

Image via Pixabay