Texas middle school cheerleaders suffer burns on hands after coach's 'punishment'



Cheerleaders from Evans Middle School in Lubbock, Texas, suffered first-degree and second-degree hand burns after they said their coach punished them by making them perform "bear crawls" and "crab walks" on a hot outdoor track, KAMC-TV reported.

Bear crawls and crab walks involve moving one's body forward with hands and feet on the ground.

One parent checked the track temperature that afternoon and said it was at least 125 degrees.

The 13 girls — all eighth graders — told KAMC they were punished for performing a cheer that their female coach didn’t want them to do. They added to the station that their coach said performing the cheer against her wishes was “disrespectful.”

Angel Thompson, a mother of one of the cheerleaders, told KAMC her daughter told her the cheerleaders "got a punishment, and shows me her hands."

The cheerleaders were told to do the bear crawls and crab walks for a mile, the station said, adding that most weren’t able to continue after two laps due to pain, and that some became physically sick.

The girls said the punishment happened at 2 p.m. Wednesday, KAMC said, adding that one parent checked the track temperature that afternoon and said it was at least 125 degrees.

“We told her our hands are burning, and she said she didn’t care, and she made us go back down on the track,” one of the cheerleaders, who asked to remain anonymous, told the station.

Parents added that the coach threatened the girls’ cheerleading futures if they didn’t complete the punishment, KAMC said.

Some girls went to the school nurse afterward, but the station said parents didn't get calls from the school about their daughters’ injuries. KAMC said at least one cheerleader was seen at the University Medical Center burn unit.

“It was malicious. It was intentional,” the mother of one of the cheerleaders, who asked to remain anonymous, told the station.

KAMC noted that parents are hoping for criminal charges against the teacher and said an investigation with police is ongoing. The teacher was placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation, the station said.

The Lubbock school district confirmed in a statement that it's aware of the "teacher’s disciplinary method that resulted in several students receiving burns on their hands. The teacher directed a group of students to perform 'bear crawls' on the outdoor track, which was heated by the day’s high temperatures. This action resulted in multiple students being injured."

"We are heartbroken over these events, as the safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. This type of incident does not reflect the standards or values of Lubbock ISD and Evans Middle School. We are addressing this matter with utmost urgency, and are fully committed to investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. The teacher involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation," the statement continued.

You can view a video report here about the incident.

Anything else?

Blaze News reported in 2015 about a Texas high school launching an internal investigation after the palms of two students were blistered due to a "bear crawl" gym class punishment. It was reportedly the third time in the space of two months that such an incident occurred in the state.

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First ever transgender cheerleader added to Carolina Panthers squad



The Carolina Panthers will debut the first-ever openly transgender NFL cheerleader for its TopCats team this upcoming football season.

What are the details?

Justine Lindsay, 29, said that she is the NFL's very first transgender cheerleader — a "big" moment that she said made her proud to "break down that door."

“This is big,” she told BuzzFeed News during a recent interview. “I think more people need to see this. It’s not because I want recognition. It’s just to shed light on what’s going on in the world.”

In March, Lindsay took to Instagram where she made the announcement.

"Cats Out the Bag," she wrote at the time. "You are looking at the newest member of the Carolina Panthers TopCats Cheerleader’s @topcats as the first Transgender female."

"I would like to thank the beautiful and talented dancers who supported me along the way alumni TopCats family and friends for your love and support," she continued. "I would not have gotten to this moment in my life if it wasn’t for the support. Also to my beautiful coach @chandalaelanouette you are a special being that I truly cherish thank you taking that leap of faith on me to be apart of your legacy and so many others. This is a moment I will never forget and I cannot wait to show you all what this girl has to bring. Thank you @topcats a dream come true."

Lindsay explained that while she initially worried that her announcement would bring negative and unwanted attention, social media rallied around her and offered their support.

What else is there to know about this?

Chandalae Lanouette, director for the TopCats team, said that Lindsay's athletic prowess earned her a coveted spot on the Panthers' cheerleading squad.

“My goal is to create a team of individuals that are absolute fire on the field but are incredible human beings in the locker room, good friends, good people, and at the end of the day, you have to walk through the door first to get to that spot,” Lanouette told BuzzFeed in an interview.

Pretty is Not Allowed

Pretty is Not Allowed

White privilege banner directed at Catholic HS before football game infuriates parents: 'It's not right'



Cheerleaders from a North Carolina high school held up a red banner before a football game Friday directed at their opponents — a Catholic high school — which read, "Sniff, sniff. You smell that? $Privilege$."

The word "privilege" was spelled out with white letters — and parents and other backers of Charlotte Catholic High School were furious and hurt over the banner, which the visiting Butler players ran through.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

What are the details?

The station said Melissa Swanson and her son — who is a fourth-grader and biracial — attended Charlotte Catholic's home football game against Butler High School. And she offered WBTV-TV her interpretation of the banner, which the Butler players ran through: "Here we are at a rich, white high school, and they're all lucky. We have it hard. They don't."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Swanson continued to the station: "And that's not the case — by no means. I am a single mom, and I raise my son on my own, and we pay for that school and work hard to be there."

She also told WBTV that she had to explain the banner to her son when he asked, "Mom, don't they see that we have other black boys on our team?"

Image source: YouTube screenshot

"I just said it's unfortunate that these things have to be discussed every day," Swanson added to the station. "And it's not right, and that's why I am so proud to have him at St. Gabriel and in the Catholic School system because we teach kindness."

She also emphasized to WBTV that among the most "disturbing" aspects of the incident "was it was children. Whether they are high school, elementary school, or middle school — they're children. The administration, the coaches, the athletic director — they had to know it."

How did Butler High's district respond?

Charlotte Mecklenburg School District sent the following statement to WBTV, the station said:

CMS is aware of an insensitive banner displayed by the Butler HS cheerleading squad prior to the school's football game versus Charlotte Catholic last Friday. Squad members and adults responsible for oversight will face consequences as a result of that banner display. School and district officials will offer no specific information about this disciplinary matter. Principal Golden and Learning Community Superintendent Tangela Williams have spoken with leaders from Charlotte Catholic to offer verbal apologies. Butler High School cheerleaders have sent an apology letter to counterparts at Charlotte Catholic. Soon there will be a meeting between the schools' cheerleading squads to facilitate goodwill and understanding.

Kurt Telford, principal of Charlotte Catholic, issued a forgiving statement, WBTV said:

We appreciate the outreach we've received from the Butler High School community and are confident our good relationship with them will continue. We understand how emotions surrounding sports events can sometimes result in actions that do not represent an organization's values. It is our hope that everyone will learn from such moments because at the end of the day we are all one community.

But one Butler parent backs banner creators

Alford Terry, a parent of a Butler student, told WSOC-TV he stands by the students who created the sign: "It's reality. I mean you can get upset as a parent, but kids, they have a mind of their own and they see things as what they are. We have to listen to what they have to say."

CMS offers apology to Charlotte Catholic High School for insensitive sign at football gameyoutu.be

Black Lives Matter militants harass young girls for their 'white privilege' as they walk into cheerleading competition



Black Lives Matter militants harassed groups of young girls for their "white privilege" as they walked into a cheerleading competition in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday.

What happened?

As one group of cheerleaders crossed the street into the Kentucky International Convention Center, Carmen M. Jones spelled out a message for them as she spoke into a megaphone, WDRB-TV reported.

"The reason why you get to be here in these pretty little gorgeous outfits and your gorgeous hair and your gorgeous bows is because of your white privilege," Jones said, according to the station. "Breonna [Taylor] is dead. Black mothers are burying their babies while white mothers send their daughters to cheer competitions."

Here's the clip:

Black Lives Matter activists harass a group of young children in Louisville by mocking them for their “White privil… https://t.co/mUWegDCwiO
— Ian Miles Cheong (@Ian Miles Cheong) 1615124259.0

Jones also appeared to command the cheerleaders to "do something black today with your white privilege." WDRB also said protesters held signs and used chants with profanities as the children walked in and out of the building.

Another video shows what appears to be a protester holding a rifle as the group faces down a group of police officers in front of the convention center:

Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @CIA-Simulation Warlord

In the second video Jones can be heard on the megaphone hollering — apparently to cops — "We are not afraid of you! We are not intimidated by you!"

Then as another group of young girls headed into the cheerleading competition, Jones could be heard saying "they don't give a f*** about y'all!" One of the protester's signs read, "F*** the police."

Here's the clip. (Content warning: Profanity):

Antifa guys armed semiautomatic rifles showed up with the Black Lives Matter activists to harass children who were… https://t.co/G6x5L8NSN2
— Ian Miles Cheong (@Ian Miles Cheong) 1615124839.0

One dad isn't happy

A father of cheerleaders told WDRB that protesters "were badgering them all the way in the door" and that his oldest daughter "cried for about an hour" after the interaction.

"You could see it affected all these kids," the father told the station, only giving his first name — Rob — and not showing his face on camera during an interview.

Rob told WDRB that the protesters have a right to be there but should have left children out of it: "If there's a problem within life, you keep it between adults. You don't take kids and add them into the problems. It had nothing to do with them. Even if you have something that you're passionate about. That wasn't the way to go about it."

The station said Louisville police made three arrests at the protest, and among the charges were disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway.

Black Lives Matter leader is unmoved

Jones told WDRB that she and fellow protesters stand by their words and methods: "Yes, I did tell them 'Don't be somebody that my child is going to have to fight.' Because right now I'm fighting the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren of people's ancestors who didn't do right."

She added to the station that "Breonna Taylor will never be able to have a child to be able to take to a cheer competition. If black kids are children enough, and child enough, and mature enough to go through the things that we go through as children, then their children are children enough, child enough. and mature enough to learn about their privilege."

This Saturday will be the one-year anniversary of the death of Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman shot six times by Louisville police officers during a "no-knock" search warrant at her apartment. Officers returned fire after Taylor's boyfriend fired his gun thinking he and Taylor were robbery targets. Police suspected Taylor's apartment was being used to traffic drugs, but no drugs or money were found during the search. The incident ignited public outrage and protests around the country.

Washington Football Team is growing more woke: No more cheerleaders next season



The Washington Football Team — previously known the world over as the "Redskins" before ownership ditched the increasingly controversial moniker last summer amid a left-wing wave that crashed upon America's institutions — appears to be growing even more woke.

What now?

The NFL franchise will not have cheerleaders this coming season — a first after more than 50 years, USA Today reported.

In their place will be a coed dance squad, according to Petra Pope, the team's newly hired senior adviser, who told the paper "we want to be more inclusive."

"Being super athletic" is the new goal, she added to USA Today: "We're able to do more things with the strength of a male, and lifts, so that's changed a great deal. The inclusivity, strength, and interest of choreography has changed."

More from the paper:

Pope brings more than three decades' experience in NBA entertainment to her new role overseeing creative direction and gameday entertainment. She redesigned the Nets' gameday experience as the team moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn, in addition to spending 14 years with the Knicks. In Los Angeles, Pope managed the Lakers' "Laker Girls."

Pope said all contracts with Washington's cheerleaders have expired, but all of them are eligible to audition for the 2021 dance squad, the paper said.

Anything else?

As for the team's new moniker, it was reported last summer that it was a temporary fix while the front office searches for a new name and mascot for future seasons.

Before settling on "Football Team," the franchise announced in early July — the height of the George Floyd rioting — that it was reviewing the Redskins moniker "in light of recent events around our country and feedback from our community."

Team owner Dan Snyder has said previously he'd never change the team's name, but soon he was on board with it. The new direction coincided with pressure from elected officials who said they'd fight against the team's intention to build a new stadium in Washington, D.C., unless the team changed its name.

Also last July, numerous women who worked for the franchise claimed they were sexually harassed by team employees. Not coincidentally among the women in question were members of the 2008 and 2010 cheerleading squads; it was alleged that team employees created videos of outtakes from calendar shoots when the women weren't fully dressed, USA Today added.

The franchise denied the existence of videos, and an attorney representing the team and owner Daniel Snyder told the paper that the matter "has been resolved."

Teen whose profane Snapchat message got her suspended sues school over free speech and wins. Now the district wants to take it to the Supreme Court.



A Pennsylvania school district is requesting the Supreme Court weigh in on a case after a freshman cheerleader and her parents sued the district after it disciplined the teen for a profane message she shared on social media.

What are the details?

According to a Monday report from the New York Times, titled "A Cheerleader's Vulgar Message Prompts a First Amendment Showdown," the Mahanoy Area School District has asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether students can be disciplined for remarks they make on social media.

In 2017, the unnamed student had just discovered that she didn't make the varsity cheerleading squad when she sent the offending message.

She took to Snapchat, where she messaged about 250 friends with a message featuring herself and a fellow student with their middle fingers up. The unnamed student captioned the photo "[u]sing a curse word four times," and expressed her unhappiness with "school," "softball," "cheer," and "everything."

"Though Snapchat messages are ephemeral by design, another student took a screenshot of this one and showed it to her mother, a coach," the Times reported. "The school suspended the student from cheerleading for a year, saying the punishment was needed to 'avoid chaos' and maintain a 'teamlike environment.'"

Following the suspension, the teen and her family sued the district and was victorious in the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia. At the time, the court ruled that the First Amendment "did not allow public schools to punish students for speech outside school grounds."

The student and her family, who are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Supreme Court that the First Amendment protected the teen's "colorful expression of frustration, made in an ephemeral Snapchat on her personal social media, on a weekend, off campus, containing no threat or harassment or mention of her school, and that did not cause or threaten any disruption of her school."

What is the school saying?

According to the Times, "the school district said administrators around the nation needed a definitive ruling from the Supreme Court" in order to ascertain their ability to discipline students for "what they say away from school."

"The question presented recurs constantly and has become even more urgent as Covid-19 has forced schools to operate online," a brief for the district's appeal read, according to the outlet. "Only this court can resolve this threshold First Amendment question bedeviling the nation's nearly 100,000 public schools."

"Whether a disruptive or harmful tweet is sent from the school cafeteria or after the student has crossed the street on her walk home, it has the same impact," the brief added. "The Third Circuit's formalistic rule renders school powerless whenever a hateful message is launched from off campus."

"The Supreme Court next month will consider whether to hear the case of Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., involving a student's freedom of speech while off school grounds," the Times said.

Anything else?

Justin Driver, author and law professor at Yale University, told the Times that he partially agrees with the district.

"It is difficult to exaggerate the stakes of this constitutional question," he said, pointing out that schools have no business "telling students what they could say when they were not in school."

He continued, "In the modern era, a tremendous percentage of minors' speech occurs off campus but online. Judicial decisions that permit schools to regulate off-campus speech that criticizes public schools are antithetical to the First Amendment. Such decisions empower schools to reach into any student's home and declare critical statements verboten, something that should deeply alarm all Americans."