This is an open letter to the members of the Jonesboro Dance team who had the misfortune of having their dance routine posted on Youtube and entitled “Jonesboro Sluts.” I know you are reading this because y’all are teenagers and y’all use newfangled doodads like Google. Yesterday, news spread that Tyra Banks had dis invited you from appearing on her show.
Allison Bryant said she hopes her daughter can still tell her story to Banks.
“I think they have blown it way out of proportion,” the mother said. “As far as the outfits, I made sure she was covered. I made sure she would still be respected.”
The mother said she attended the majority of the practices and did not find anything inappropriate. The mother said the boys had rehearsed with the team and knew they were not supposed to touch the girls.
Exia Bryant, 16, said does not regret the dance, but is tired of people at school calling her a slut, ho and stripper.
“Eight girls went out and did something we love to do and had fun,” the junior said. “I knew who I am before I did the dance and I know who I am now. I will keep dancing and keep my head up.” AJC
I am sure you are heartbroken that you and your parents won’t get an all expense paid trip to New York to defend your recent performance at a high school basketball half time show wearing hoodies shorts and thigh high socks while gyrating in front of teenage boys you pulled from the audience. I don’t know WHERE you got that idea from?
You have been wronged. Grievously wronged.
We’ve failed you in a monumental way. (By “We” I mean the Black community. I am appointing myself to speak for all Black people as is the tradition of modern day freedom fighters like myself.)
You see back when I was a youngster in the 20th century we had something called “adults” ( Google It). We sometimes referred to these adults as parents, teachers, coaches, assistant principals, boosters, sponsors, matrons and band directors. These ancient beings called adults went extinct somewhere about the time that Hammer pants and the high top fade went the way of the audio “cassette” player .(Google it).
Back in the olden days of LA Gear sneakers and Cross Colours, these prehistoric “adults” used to enforce something called “boundaries.” They would talk about having something called “home training.’ You didn’t want to do something crazy like “embarrass” the family in front of people. These ancient beings were downright draconian.
I mean without any notice if they caught you “acting up” in public they wouldn’t hesitate to do something called “snatching” you by whatever body part they could reach first and taking you somewhere. Occasionally they would tear something called a “switch” off of the nearest foliage and you would get something that Etta James would call a “whupping”.
You young people these days are unfamiliar with “whuppings” they were replaced by something called “time out.”
These ancient “adults” had something called “standards.” You didn’t have to like them. You didn’t have to agree with them, but you had comply with them.
These ancient adults repeated cryptic teachings such as “There is a time and a place for everything.” These ancient adults had something called a tape measure and a sewing machine and sometimes frequented ancient craftswomen called seamstresses who could tailor costumes so that they fit “properly.” By “properly,” I mean that the clothing did not cut off circulation.
These ancient adults spoke a foreign language peppered with unintelligible words like “No,” and “Not in my house.”
They had “expectations” and didn’t get parenting tips from some British nanny they watched on ABC. In fact these adults took pride in their independent decision making, often chortling “X Can do whatever she wants to do. I ain’t X’s Mama!” Or “If all of them went and jumped over the side of a cliff would you do it?”
I know it is hard to imagine, but I am a living witness that these ancient creatures once existed. Tis no myth. They once roamed the Earth in large herds and formed a secret intelligence network so efficient that if you violated established standards, news of your reckless rule breaking would reach your parental unit before you could come up with a proper cloaking and switch/belt diversion strategy.
I shall share with you a lesson I learned as a wee lass. When I was a youngster, back before the days of 106 and Park, there was afternoon programming called CAR-TOONS. On these prehistoric picture box programs we used to watch moving images of characters like The Thunder Cats, GI Joe, Transformers and what not. Then we would go “outside” an reenact scenes from these CAR-TOONS.
At one time, I thought that if I ran really fast and waved my arms, I would be able to fly. I also thought that If I tied a bed sheet around my neck and jumped off the roof, that I would float like Superman. Don’t do that by the way.
What’s my point? My point is, YOU CAN’T DO EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON the picture box!
The picture box isn’t real. Its “make believe.” I don’t care how many times the people in the “picture box” talk about “keeping it real”- Its fake! On the picture box there are no rules. In the real world we have gravity.
When Britney Spears takes off all her clothes and rolls around in a music video on the picture box, she’s edgy. . When Christina Aguilera dons chaps and a bikini top, she’s reclaiming her womanhood. When Beyonce writhes her nether regions around while rocking a leotard and 5 inch heels, she “Hawt.” When Oprah decided to install a stripper pole center stage of her afternoon daytime talk show, that didn’t mean you could do it too.
You see, there is a difference between the picture box and real life. But I don’t blame you entirely, after all, it is the responsibility of teenagers to exercise poor judgment.
I’ll share another anecdote ( Google it) from my youth. For a short period of time, I imagined myself a sharp shooter, just like the people on the picture box. So I would take a BB gun, not to be confused with the Glocks you youngsters play with these day, but a pellet gun. Back in the olden days, youngsters would shoot birds and squirrels, not each other, but I digress.
I took to shooting pellets into potatoes on the front porch. I was good too. I almost never missed the potato. Then one day my Father ( Google it) came out on the porch and said I might not want to be aiming a pellet gun in the same direction as passing cars and our neighbor’s windows. You see my young brain hadn’t forseen the possibility that I could actually miss the potato and break someone’s window. So I stopped playing with pellet guns and went back to mixing household chemicals to see what interesting “reactions” I could generate. Mixing Comet with dish washing liquid makes your nose tingle… and fills your lungs with poisionous ammonia, I digress, making toxic chemicals isn’t the point.
My point is, my Daddy was around to tell me that while I found shooting a pellet gun into a potato fun and exciting, just like the people in the picture box, it wasn’t a prudent thing to do in light of the potential property damage I could cause. I was a good person, but had I broken someone’s window, I gander (Google it) they would think I was a young hooligan (Google it). My intent was irrelevant.
But again, I had these ancient adults to steer me away from ill advised juvenile delinquency. You have been left out in the cold and abandoned and Tis not fair! Sacrilege!
Right now the Georgia State president of the NAACP should be at the State Capitol DEMANDING that your “dance team” be reinstated. You clearly have received a disproportionate punishment for your actions.
In an age where obesity and lethargy is besetting African American women, it should be against the public policy of the Clayton County schools to discourage you from engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise. In addition, I think you are the victims of a horrible double standard.
I have no doubt if the football team or basketball team had acted a plum natural fool during a game that administrators would not have considered imposing a death penalty on the rest of their entire season. That is what has happened to you.
As a result of the adults’ clear mistake in judgment and child neglect, you are being denied an opportunity to develop leadership skills, improve cardiovascular health, fine motor control, flexibility, discipline, team work, and relieve public performance anxiety. In addition, you have been labeled sluts and are currently experiencing group shaming. That is wrong. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere!
Did the community shame Genarlow Wilson and his buddies when they made porno tapes in a drug fueled orgy? Did the community shame Marcus Dixon? Did the community shame Mychal Bell when he and five buddies decided to beat the crap out of a classmate, during school hours on school property? Nah they didn’t because we need to support young Black men when they have lapses in judgment because they are… well young.
Ladies, the truth is that people love labeling Black women and girls as sluts and ostracizing them. In that isolation these labeled women and girls become vulnerable to all sorts of abuse and that is why I stand in solidarity with you today. I shall not let you be cast aside like yesterday’s trash. If the “community” can stand resolute behind OJ, Genarlow Wilson, Marcus Dixon, and the Jena 6 then they can darned well stand behind you. It’s not like you killed anybody.
Now let me be clear. Shame is a good thing. It’s useful. It has a purpose. But if we are going to shame folks, we could at least make an attempt at equal opportunity shaming.
Were you wrong to use your bodies as some type of entertaining prop to titillate ( Google it) young helpless teenage boys? Yes! But do you deserve to be treated like modern day Hester Prynnes? No.
Were you wrong to treat the halftime show of a high school basketball game as if it were the set of a Beyonce video? Yep. But did you deserve mass public humiliation and ridicule and being thrown under the bus by your inattentive neglectful, incompetent school administrators? No
Its understandable that you would be confused about appropriate attire. After all, every Sunday morning the procession into the church sanctuary looks more like the line to get into Da’ Club. Toddler’s are running around in 3 inch thigh high boots and boas in House of Dereon Girls ads. Even your own “mothers” have sent you the message that your attire is appropriate. Publicly admitting to having inspected your clothing before allowing you to leave the house.
Everyone is sending the message that they have absolutely no problem with extremely young girls wearing attire one might expect a “lady of the evening” to sport during “office hours”. I bet you believed that you would be REWARDED for dressing the way that you did and performing the way that you did because the people on the picture box who dress the way that you do get rewarded handsomely. But alas, someone called you a “slut” on Youtube and then all bets were off. Those few moments of public adulation as you recreated scenes from the picture box swiftly turned sour.
You soon learned that there’s a big difference between a picture box and real life. Tis a painful but useful lesson. You see, now that you have been labeled “slut” you find yourself thrust beneath a bus as your school administrators drive away. You’ve been left to fend for yourselves and no doubt your compatriots are heaping full helpings of shame and humiliation upon your head. They don’t tell you that on the picture box do they?
You may be surprised with how swiftly you’ve been jettisoned-after all, this is the BLACK COMMUNITY! We believe in redemption and embracing flawed fallen young souls. If past behavior in response to youthful indiscretions is any indication, we as a community should be rushing to embrace you young ladies and offer advice and fine counsel as opposed to throwing you out like garbage because you made a terrible mistake in judgment. We should certainly extend to you the same mercy and compassion that the Black community has demanded for murderers, gang rapists, drug dealers, and human sex traffickers. Don’t ya think?
So despite the pure unadulterated Hades ( Google it) y’all are getting right now, keep your heads up. You are not sluts. You are not trash. You are not disposable and you should not be exiled or banished from dancing for all eternity.
You won’t be the first young women to experience the horrors of “slut shaming.”(Google it when you go to college). That’s exactly what is happening to you right now. There is a word for it because it’s been done so many times before. Just be glad you didn’t get sent to jail for three days.
By applying the death penalty to your performance schedule the school district has insured that you will be forever immortalized as the high school “lap” dance team. I think that is unfair and demand that the Black community extend to you the same path to redemption we so willingly extended to Genarlow Wilson, Marcus Dixon, and the Jena 6. It it the only FAIR thing to do.
Yours in the struggle,
What About Our Daughters’ Black Community Gender Equity Monitor
48 comments ↓
Lmao! This post had me dying! Very entertaining. But also true. I’m a little on the fence. Do I think that they should be called sluts? No. That’s not fair and extreme. You are right. They were failed in a big way. I just don’t know where the parents’ judgment was on this one. And where were the boys’ parents? They shold not have been involved and they look prurient as hell for partaking. I’m all for sexuality, but this is selling sex in a most tacky fashion. They should be counseled and given a chance at redemption whatever that is. Throwing them by the wayside is a disservice.
As for the cardio, they can still run on the streets, join a gym, work out at home to DVDs, etc. They should be given a chance or everyone involved including the boys and parents should carry the burden too.
I just don’t know what to say … but I know one thing it is not acceptable for the school and the parents to have allowed them to perform this dance, at the same time to turn around and ostracize the girls and call them sluts is absolutely egregious!
It seems that it’s all ways open season on our black girls and women.
I shame the school and the parents, not the girls, as you said, they had/have a responsibility to those students and failed miserably.
Loved this entry. You are so right about adults, where are they these days??? When I was in school that would have never have happened. All peformances had to be approved by an adult. What is sad that people look at you crazy when you call this nonsense out.
There is also a double standard. We have to teach our goals that they are worth more, no matter what the media, society, or even men tell them.
The double standard for women will never end, especially for bw that suffer the worst. No matter what we do it seems like we are scorned and vilified for it.
The parents should have had enough sense not to allow their children to participate in this. I sincerely wonder about the school administration. It seems that anymore if you supposedly squelch free speech or expression that you could be sued. I wonder if this was the issue with them or if they just did not see anything wrong with the routine.
I was in band in high school. We had a band director, sponsors and chaperones. Are you telling me none of them saw this fucknuttery beforehand?
Of course, this is Clayton County GA. They care so much about their children that they let a batshit crazy school board run their system into the ground. The district lost accreditation. Do you have any idea how hard it is to lose accreditation in GA?
Oh my gosh… I don’t understand whi Tyra Banks has disinvited these girls from her show when she had Ray J and Kim Kardashian on her show discussing their “sex tape”… and let me point out the double standard that was perpetuated as she scolded Kim K. for her involvement but laughed and joked it off with Ray J.
I do agree with this post that it is unfair for these young girls to be scapegoated like this. the punsihment is definitely not equal to the crime… and if anything they should be given a warning before they disbanded the whole team. It is such a shame how our young women are treated… but it just goes to show how much work we have to do.
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This post was completely on point and definitely timely. I am the mother of a 12 year old and EVERYDAY I am fighting to ensure that she grows up knowing her self worth…to not be confused into thinking that the sexual and exploitative garbage that she may see on television should in any way become a part of her reality. It is make believe and in its current form a detriment to the development of balanced, confident and self respecting children.
It is tough raising children right now and getting more difficult all the time because having standards is now considered a bad thing. I am an ADULT like the adults I was raised by and I will fight to the death to have a greater impact in her life than any television program could and I know by the time she reaches adulthood I will be EXHAUSTED because it will have been a hard fought one…but well worth it!
Keep doing what you do because this was an excellent post.
Ahhh, the great Negro protectionist double standard once again rears its ugly head.
Do you have any contact info for any of the girls or for the team? I would like to send them a care package or something because I can only imagine how they feel right now.
Shame on ALL the adults involved in this for throwing those girls under the bus.
And you are so on point about these extinct beings called “adults” and “parents”.
But where are Al and jesse to demand that these girls be treated fairly and to blame whitey and the system for disenfranchising THEM?
Whoever said raising kids nowadays is hard is spot on. I just saw that Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl,” Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” to name a few were nominated for Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. I have no words….
Kids today do get beatings and chatised, but its usually for the wrong reasons or frivolous reasons. Because Black folks never bought into the time out thing.
I don’t understand…how do we as a society give awards to raunchy musicians…praise artists for their misogynistic dances and rap…declare britney spears of the world as “Hot” and 50 Cent “cool” and yet not expect young people to imitate what is seen.
Parents and school administators probably thought it was cool what they did because they themselves have been raised to think this is cool to gyrate your hips.
Which started the chicken or the egg?
People talk the talk yet don’t walk the walk. If you want young people to change, and act, and dress appropriately. Societal standards MUST be set and set consistently.
As long as the Beyonces of the world are making millions shaking their behind, society is inadvertently supporting this behavior and no surprise, it gives young people the cue to imitate this behavior.
But it’s always the young people that take the blame for what adults permit to happen in the first place.
Our generation has sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind when it came to our kids. Seriously, everyone has lost their minds to the point where pole swinging and sleazy lap dancing (by women only, of course) is widely promoted as ‘good fun exercise’.
Folks shouldn’t act all surprised when young girls start to actually believe them.
I used to be a cheerleader (100 years ago, I’ll admit). Beyond the inappropriate choreography, I was struck by how out of physical condition these young girls are.
In my day, a 5 minute aerobic routine was easy. These poor girls are huffing and puffing and desperately tired, because they have not been athletically conditioned or trained. More work went into pouring them into spandex and teaching them how to shake their money makers than the joy of dancing, cheerleading, and healthy exercise.
Wow! Gina, I wasn’t even able to watch more that 1minute and 32 seconds of that video so I don’t have any idea what else happened. But I will agree that a double standard is at work. Maybe we should make a point by supporting these girls while simultaneously letting them know that the dance was not appropriate. I would also be down for sending a “care package” as a message that we won’t accept double standards.
To all those who want to send a care package, feel free to hunt down the info and post it. Collective Effort folks. I’m providing the platform, y’all can use the power of Google to track them down.
Okay, here is the info:
Jonesboro High School
7728 Mt. Zion Boulevard- Jonesboro, Georgia 30236
Phone: 770-473-2855
Vocational: 770-473-2852
FAX: 770-603-5177
Principal
Dr. Carl Jackson
Assistant Principals
Sandra Nicholson
Milton Watson
Monika Wiley
Yikes! We know some parents aren’t worth a dang but where were the school administrators? Then again, I now have friends that are young principals and we did grow up watching quite a few Luke, Snoop, and Too Short videos. Former Freaknik participants are probably dropping it like a hot potato on the Tom Joyner cruise. Anyhoo, that routine wouldn’t have lasted 30sec in at my high school. Of course, we didn’t have a dance/step team and our cheerleaders were strong competitors.
The beginning of that routine is choreography taken from Ciara’s videos. She’s from Ga. Maybe that type of dancing is “normal” to them.
These adults became extinct once feminism and liberalism took over the black community.
Wow, I wish I could say this is surprising, but its not. I saw racier performances at my High School “talent show”. What made it worse was my Mom, was sitting next to me horrified, when 4 young men, came on stage grinding and gyrating, on chairs. While all my female classmates were screaming and hootin, I had the task of holdin her back! Afterwards all she could do was shake her head, and question me about what “that poor chair was supposed to symbolize”. Then the next “dance group”came onstage to preform the remake of “Lady Marmalade”, needless to say once they mimicked the pants ripping scene to reveal some girl sportin unflattering daisy dukes, I just put my head in my lap. Got lectured the whole night about acting like a dog in heat in public, interrogated about lack of supervision, and repeatedly threatened, that if she ever saw me “humping” on stage or Tv, she’d “expeditiously whoop my A**”.
I was just talking about how Beyonce is trying to make herself into a fine upstanding classy performer. She is sending a dangerous message. One that says, “Do what you gotta do to make yo’ money”. She has security with her. If a man saw her on the street after her concert, she’d have been a victim of violence.
As usual, very insightful. These girls have been wronged by a lot of negligent grown folks.
Where was the sponsor?
Beverly,
Thanks for the info. I was only able to find the names of one of the 8 girls, Exia Bryant. I will send it to HER attention and hopefully she will get it.
I got to watch the whole video and I really don’t see why its such a big deal. Hip hop dancing took a more raunchy term years ago. The only difference is that the particular admnistrators of this school appoved it. I am guessing this is a black school with black administrators. My high school teachers and principal were pricks and yes that was their job to be. Too many adults are either still trying to be young or they are so old they have just given up assuming this is what kid these days do.
MEISHA
You are so right about Tyra and her double standards. Sometimes I think she hates black women.
Examples:
Naomi Campbell – Tyra had her on specifically to make her feel bad and look bad because she had treated her poorly back in the day. Funny thing was, Naomi barely remembered her from that perios which clearly pissed Tyra off even more.
That Video Vixen Chick – Tyra tore her a new one for writing a book about the men she slept with. Not ten minutes later, Tyra was laughing with Dennis Rodman about his skank filled adventures when he used to be somebody.
Double standard much?
Gina, you nailed it!
Where were these CHILDREN”S parents? There is no way my sister would have allowed her daughter to learn, let alone perform, strippers moves like that!
And exactly who didn’t think that having boys play the role of strip club patrons wasn’t going to fuck up their value system? They are in high school and already think nothing of looking at Black women as “Ho’s”.
WTF?
Please President Obama, save us from ourselves!
all i have to say is that those ancient people’s children, meaning gina’s generation or basically anyone around 40 and up dropped the ball, cause their parents had commom sense and passed it down, why didn’t they then pass it to their own kids? why??? lets be honest here, my parent’s generation are a mess!!! i’m in my early 20’s, 23, my grandparents’ generation was truly hard working, these are the people that truly suffered but kept their heads up, it seems that my parents’ generation is where this bw singleness nonsense began, not to mention the single parenthood, shame
Btw, yall tyra is an idiot, I thought everyone knew
Clayton county is a hot mess, the bizarre thing is most of the people and officials there are black so I don’t really know what excuse they have for failing these kids (i thought it was whitie that always failed black children). I hate to say this, but it seems that wherever black folks go things just fall apart. The high school in my school district used to be really good (when it was majority white), now that it’s majority black, they have cameras everywhere due to violence. Fighting is no longer reserved for the lunchroom, you have the chance of getting jumped everywhere you go. shame cause that was an excellent school people used to move to to just attend that school
“These adults became extinct once feminism and liberalism took over the black community.”
Brock did you lose your mind? feminism? say what now? Black women are some of the LEAST liberated women I have ever seen, not only in America but AROUND THE WORLD. dang, people love to trip.
“Naomi Campbell – Tyra had her on specifically……….”
that was so embarrassing (for me), I couldn’t watch the whole thing, I don’t even know what happened cause I just couldn’t watch. tyra is such a tard
LOL “Ancient people’s children”. Lawd, I think my one gray hair is gleaming brighter at this very moment. You sound just like I did yrs ago. When my mom would complain about my generation (X), I would just turn to her and said, “well y’all are raising us, so what does that say about you?”. LOL
I’m not yet 40 but I don’t do too much complaining about kids today or the performers they listen to. I’m not even 10yrs older than Beyonce so I know, like me she grew up watching Janet and Patra do the butterfly and Toni Braxton transform her image into a “sex sells” mess. It’s been a long time coming, imo. I remember my 3rd grade class singing Celebration by Kool n the Gang on the last day of school. The next year kids were singing Mtume’s Juicy Fruit (I’ll be your lollipop, you can lick me everywhere). That was ok but grown folks today will lose their conservative minds over Wayne’s lollipop song. Go figure. Meh. We’re all passionate about different things. This here blues ain’t mine.
Oh, and Tyra is a mess. I definitely noticed the difference in her tone between Karrine and Dennis.
I am laughing at people putting me in a parental generation. Mary, if you are 23 then I was a whopping 9 years old when you were born. SoI will have to direct you to the 40 and over set.
BTW I made the post sound intentionally old fogie-ish because watching all of this and reading the comments made me feel old as dirt. Have times really changed THIS much.
Shut ‘em down! Is this what passes as modern dance today? I heard ATL is the strippin’ capital of the world. However, this is mild. There are high schoolers who are really strippers–no lie. But look here, I would have shut the basketball team down too. That’s right that dance was part of a full evening of entertainment including the basketball. I would have shut them all down for the year.
Quick, rescind the suspensions! Now we want to champion education for our darlings. I tell you the Black community is but-backwards. I bet that “adults” thought that was cute.
Thank you so much for writing this.
An acquaintance of mine sent this video to me and lambasted the girls for being “fast” and “grown”. Now I personally did not think the dance was that bad. The shorts were a bit too short and booties shook a it more than they should have, but I’ve seen MUCH worse.
So I pointed this out to said acquaintance and also said that I hope that she and others like her, who were calling these young ladies everything but children of god, would have the same outrage if these were young men doing something ridiculous like…… say….. coercing girls to have sex with them, etc. etc. etc. You know, all the stuff that people say “Boys will be boys” to.
I’m so glad that WAOD came through as usual and expressed my thoughts better than I would have on my own.
What troubles me is the audience reactions…laughing, cheering them on encouraging the inappropriate behavior. The dance initially was not raunchy but once the guys were taken in the message of using Black women again as sexual objects was clear.
Where’s the involvement of their parents? Too many are being raised by young parents, young mothers and by parents that birthed them but couldn’t care less about raising them…don’t we all know that that’s the school’s job?
Their coach/volunteer teacher should be reprimanded. The dance team should exist. Routines should be approved before performance, if this one was then the administrators are at fault.
Now that President Obama is our national leader, even more of this nonsence will become mainstream.
***sigh***
A far more appropriate ‘punishment’ would’ve been to hire those young ladies an actual dance instructor. It’s clear from their technique and movements that none of them have had any training or conditioning at all. A real instructor would have had them in those thick Danskin tights that keep anything from jiggling, (not that anything would be jiggling after 2-3 hour dance sessions every day.)
Seems as if they need to start listening to white music…
Let them get to know these singers:
Angela Gossow
Sharon Den Adel
Floor Jansen
Liv Kristine
Gabriella Cilmi
Tarja Turunen
Anette Olzon
Heidi Parviainen
Carmen Elise Espenæs
Cristina Scabbia
Simone Simons
Anneke van Giersbergen
Otep
Ailyn… and many more…
“Now that President Obama is our national leader, even more of this nonsense will become mainstream.”
Cinco, rap music/hip hop culture is already mainstream. Unfortunately, it has been elevated to the highest office of the land, and won’t go away anytime soon. There is a video (backstage at the We Are One Concert) on the internet that shows how the Obamas feel about that music and culture. They are either clueless or not very concerned about the impact that music and culture are having on communities across America.
****double sigh****
STOP. CALLING. WOMEN. SLUTS.OR. WHORES!!!
what dont we understand? STOP.
IT does not creat a better woman. UNDERSTAND?
I miss the days when chearleading uniforms were actually clothing. They used to have skirts and wear sweaters with the SCHOOL letters on them. These girls look as if they got anything from their closet or the local shops and put it on.
Cheerleading used to be a mix of gymnastics and acrobatics. These just look like dancers and “low class” ones at that. I dont believe they have a real cheerleading coach. I’ve had to slowly watch sweaters , hemlines and then skirts disapear.
Poor girls. Looks like they will grow up not knowing how to use their sexuallity for thier own pleasure and not ours. IN addition to being villified by society as sexually loose. BET HALF of them have NEVER had sex!
Sheesh, condescending much? Was this supposed to be humor? I agree with your main point but it’s cloaked in way too much douchebaggery. Why are you talking down to the girls like THEY are the idiots to blame? Redirect your pseudo-hip “humor” to those who are actually at fault.
I feel so badly for those girls. I want to say parents should have intervened but honestly, who would think their children (who are supposed to be in groups moderated by adults–teachers/administrators, etc) would be engaged in this kind of dancing? If my child said, “Mom, I’m part of the dance troupe at school” I’d certainly think they were doing some kind of harmless, innocent cheerleading type stuff. I’m sure many parents never imagined this was what was going on. To me, it goes to show that I simply cannot trust schools. I have to be all up in the business making sure everything is on the up and up. Because schools just don’t seem to be able to do a good job of helping maintain our children’s “childishness” or helping them truly develop themselves into adults.
And I honestly can’t believe the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice nomination. Now I know why I don’t get cable. What a shame.
“Why are you talking down to the girls like THEY are the idiots to blame? Redirect your pseudo-hip “humor” to those who are actually at fault.”
@Maggie actually there is plenty of fault to go around. The point isn’t that they didn’t do anything “wrong”. Nor is it helpful to say “Do whatever you want, we’ll defend it”
The whole situation, including your idiotic comment is ridiculous. Everyone is trying to shift blame in this situation. I am not interested in who is MOST to blame. the point is this debacle could have been prevented by any number of people, yet somehow the girls received ALL of the Blame.
I am not in the camp of people that seeks to justify donning skintight skin bearing costumes and jiggling around in front of some boy as a form of entertainment.
Nor am I in the crowd that wants to stone them for one lapse in judgment.
My point isn’t that the girls are faultless, but that the adults are MOST at fault, yet bearing none of the consequences of their inaction.
Some people like my “humor” if you dont…..bounce, hit the bricks, go read another blog. Its my style, you don’t have to like it
Toodles!
What’s wrong with the dance routine?
These young women are CHEERLEADERS – and, if you’ve been to a college or pro sports event lately, that style is popular now.
Yes, it is sexualized – but then again, it’s dance and everything about dance is sexual.
Why do you have a problem with that?
For that matter, why do the medieval idiots who run that school district have a problem with it?
You can bet all the men on that local school board have been to a strip club at least once – so who are they fooling with their moralistic hypocrisy.
Beyond that , it really sickens me when I see folks my age or older (I’m 40) attacking our youth and putting out all that “back in the day our kids had ‘home training’” nonsense!
“Back in the day” we had Jim Crow, back of the bus, Blacks can’t vote, KKK lynch mob rule – there was nothing wonderful about any of that, and I am sick and tired of older folks in our community glorifying that era!
TODAY is the good old days of Black America (we have the presidency now, in case you didn’t notice!)
Black youth have it hard enough being dumped on by White America – we don’t need to join in!!!
In the so called “good old days” child abuse went unpunished in our community because White social workers and cops didn’t give a damn about us – African American children got inadequate education, poor public services and subpar health care.
Glorifying that horrible period in our race and this country’s history is just dishonest – and does a real disservice to our race!
These young women are very creative and talented – they shouldn’t be attacked like that ESPECIALLY by a sista like yourself who claims to be an advocate for young African American women!!!!
Gregory said:
These young women are very creative and talented – they shouldn’t be attacked like that ESPECIALLY by a sista like yourself who claims to be an advocate for young African American women!!!!
My response:
Oh lord have mercy. I read Gina’s post and she DID NOT attack these girls. There’s nothing attacking these girls in her post. She is simply pointing out that their behavior is inappropriate and it is inappropriate and if someone over 40 years old doesn’t realize that we are in worst shape than I suspected. BTW, I’m in my 30’s and so is Gina ( I suspect) so it’s not old folks attacking young folks, that’s just silly. Anyway, I agree with another poster who said the girls need dance lessons. Maybe you can invest in some dance lessons for these girls, since you think they are so creative and talented. Actions speak louder than words. I will be preparing my care package this week.
@gregory — that was one of the most asinine posts I have ever read. I am only 27 but even I know that much good came out of that horrific era of Jim Crow Laws. Parents were PARENTS! Black folks were and still are a proud people. Just ask my father, mother and my grandparents.
@GINA – this post was on point! When I first saw this video I was disgusted at these girls. Then it dawned on me that this really occured during a SCHOOL EVENT! Where were the teachers? Where were the PARENTS? These poor girls are being railroaded, yet people are silent about the ones who are supposed to be showing them the right way!
We don’t need Obama to save us from ourselves. We can save our own selves!
This post was well balanced!
Why does only one girl seem to have on shorts that AREN’T invading the inner parts of her body? The second I saw all of the girls except for one digging in their crotches to pull their shorts down, I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
I’m sure the crowd was full of their classmates and recent alumni. Most of the people didn’t look like parental figures, but I could be wrong. Since they were suspended and ClayCo has proven its ineptness over and over again, it may be necessary to involve the State Superintendent of Schools.
ClayCo is the epitome of last place finishes AND the place where the school board is a wretched mess. I am not sure that talking to any one at the county level is going to be effective.
Although Kathy Cox may not be of any great help (under her watch GA schools have gone from 50th in the nation to 48th), I’m sure she’d love to have one more reason for the state to take over ClayCo Schools. Here’s her nfo:
Kathy Cox
State Superintendent
of Schools
2066 Twin Towers East
205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-2800 (voice)
(404) 651-8737 (Fax)
state.superintendent@doe.k12.ga.us
@ Gregory — there is the strip club and then there is a school gynasium. TWO different places that should NOT mix. Just because “Everyone” has gone to a strip club, that doesn’t mean we should see those dances at a high school function.
@Gina — great post. I agree. Those girls didn’t pick up those dances on their own someone taught them. And yes, we have failed to protect them. They did something wrong. We agree but they shouldn’t be treated like hardened criminals. No one should be calling them out of their names. They just need to change the style and come back.
I would love to see the average grades and the high school drop out rates of that particular school system.
@Gregory. Come on man, I’m 39. Somebody above hinted at we seem to be the last generation to receive “hometraining.” Jim Crow or not – this belongs to the adults who allowed this, not just the girls.
@Gina – that said, now that I have a baby girl, I thank you more for your blog and all your posts to continue to remind me what I’m up against.
Having remembered when something was actually said by rappers (KRS, Public Enemy etc) and when singers talked about love, not just sex,.. I’m drifting here. I just know, just like my mother before me, it will be an everlasting battle to instill in my daughter self worth when it seems the world (TV, Public schools, radio etc) tells her the opposite.
@Gina
Great post as always.
Yes, the girls on the cheerleader team shouldn’t be let completely off the hook. But it amazes how many adults are far more willing to attack the symptom (raunchy cheerleader routines) instead of the cause (negligent parenting, hypersexualized culture, etc.).
I guess confronting the cause would require REAL courage. Thank you for being among the courageous.
On a related note, check out “Rites of passage,” a blog post about a study on how entertainment bigwigs try to turn all innocent girls into sluts in record time:
http://thepoint.breakpoint.org/2009/01/rites-of-passag.html
We have a fight on our hands and must direct our fire at the right targets.
Shaking my head at this. Who in their right mind thought it was A-OK for these girls to be dancing suggestively in those skimpy outfits?! Parents don’t give a damn anymore and would rather be their kids’ friends than their parents.
I too agree that this team doesn’t need to be suspended but needs an overhaul. New outfits that are cute and fun WHILE ALSO covering their bodies, and someone who knows actual choreography to lead them. In this mess of a dance, I saw some girls slipping and one kept stopping to pull those shorts down. They were also out of sync. Dance should be fluid, consistent and have some kind of meaning to it. All this was was booty-shaking.
And I’ll be 28 this year and feel there should be some kind of standards and moral compass to follow. I agree with the strict, hands-on parenting of the past than the loose “I don’t care” parenting of today.
Oh, for those of you looking for more names of the girls on the squad, I found a couple more in this article: Shakryscien Brown and Aiyona Banks.