Hillsboro Cheerleaders Take a Knee During National Anthem Friday

NASHVILLE, TN — A group of Hillsboro High School cheerleaders took to a knee during the playing of the national anthem ahead of the Burros' Friday night football game against Cane Ridge, bringing to Nashville high school fields the increasingly widespread protest.

The movement, meant to highlight continuing racial inequality and disparate treatment of minorities by police, began when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during a preseason game. Kaepernick then shifted the protest to kneeling and he has been joined by several players leaguewide. Others, including members of the Tennessee Titans, instead raise a fist during the anthem,

The protest has spread to college campuses and now high schools.

The cheerleaders told Fox 17 that every member of the squad made up their own minds about what to do Friday night. Three cheerleaders, who had family who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, stood.

"I feel like it was the same thing as standing up, just kneeling for the ones that are fallen basically," senior co-captain Ke'arra Allen told the TV station.

Allen's parents told Fox 17 they did not expect the protest.

“She voiced her opinion on Friday in a respectful, yet peaceful way. I was proud of her because as parents sometimes we want to give our children what to say, but at this time she stood up without us having any input," Allen's mother Nicole said.

Photo by Maurice Patton of Mo Patton Sports, used by permission.