the 'Kennesaw Five'
*On this date in 2017,' five Black cheerleaders at Kennesaw State University knelt during the national anthem. Located in Georgia, Kennesaw State University cheerleader Shlondra Young told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution they would kneel until the US flag "represents what it should," another cheerleader, Michaelyn Wright, said of their protest, "It was the scariest thing I've ever done."
The cheerleaders said they closely watched a national debate over NFL players kneeling during the anthem, adding they prayed before kneeling before a college game.
The 'Kennesaw Five' now have been instructed to protest off the football field. The school's athletic department decided to move the cheerleaders off-field, which meets after each game "to determine how best to enhance the game-day atmosphere," school spokeswoman Tammy DeMel said in a statement. It made no mention of the anthem protest.
In 2017, in Pennsylvania, several cheerleaders at a high school in the community of Coraopolis kneeled during the anthem at a football game attended by several war veterans. The backlash resulted in the school restricting attendance at the school homecoming game to parents of players. The following year, four of the five Kennesaw cheerleaders were not allowed to be on the squad for the upcoming season.
