High School Cheerleaders Are Now Kneeling During The National Anthem

High school cheerleaders are also kneeling during the national anthem, according to a testimony from two high schoolers in Union City, Calif.

Two high school students, Sasha Armbrester and Teana Boston, told NPR’s Youth Radio Friday that they are protesting police brutality at football games.

Armbrester, a cheerleader for James Logan High School’s football team, said that the two girls originally learned about race relations from taking the same ethnic studies class at school, which made them reconsider supporting the National Anthem.

“When Colin Kaepernick started taking a knee, a lot of people thought he was being unpatriotic. But for me and the other black cheerleaders on my team, we were inspired. We saw an opportunity to call attention to racial injustice,” said Armbrester.

Armbrester said she also got inspiration from her friend Boston, 16, who wrote a new version of the National Anthem, one that deals with racism, which Boston sang before a football game.

“I did my research on what I was really singing about, and I have to realize that it’s not the land of the free,” said Boston.

One of Boston’s lines reads,”But there is something about this sight. He crawled in the street, hands spread out like his feet but he was still shot in his heart. And I don’t get that part,” in response to Trayvon Martin getting shot by a police officer.

Armbrester adds that she originally got into cheerleading because she wanted to be a role model for her high school. This teen also wrote a piece about Gun Control for Youth Radio.