COBB COUNTY, Ga. – A former Kennesaw State University cheerleader filed a lawsuit claiming her civil and constitutional rights were violated.
Tommia Dean, a sophomore and one of the “Kennesaw 5 Cheerleaders,” filed a civil lawsuit against KSU’s former President Samuel S. Olens, State of Georgia House Representive Earl Ehrhart, Cobb County Sheriff Neal Warren, Scott Whitlock, and Matt Griffin on Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims Olens, Griffin, and Whitlock violated her civil rights and conspired to violate her rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments when they prohibited her from kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. The suit also claims that Ehrhart and Warren engaged in a private conspiracy under the Ku Klux Klan Act to violate Dean’s rights.
Dean, along with four other KSU cheerleaders, stirred controversy in 2017 when they knelt before the start of KSU's home football game on Sept. 30.
Their actions drew both praise and criticism. Days after the back-and-forth, Georgia's attorney general weighed in, saying students at a public university could kneel, as long as it was not disruptive. But KSU took a different approach, banning cheerleaders from the pregame routine.
In May, during tryouts four of the five kneeling cheerleaders didn’t make this year's squad. Three more cheerleaders from last year's squad also didn't make the team. KSU told 11Alive that becoming a cheerleader for the university's squad was more competitive than ever.
CATCH UP (story continues below)
- KSU cheerleaders who took a knee: 'Before we went out on the field, we all prayed'
- KSU responds after cheerleaders kneel during national anthem
- State lawmaker: University stadiums no place for free speech demonstrations
- Investigation launched into KSU cheerleader controversy; Olens apologizes
- Students march in support of KSU Cheerleaders kneeling for national anthem
Dean recently told 11Alive in an interview that she wanted her voice heard, saying the move is "what happens when you take a stand."
"I think it played a role because I know my skills, and I had the skills two years prior to that, so I know what I can do," Dean told 11Alive. "I know the people who made it. I know their skills and I know my skills. But I don't think it was a skills-based thing. Not to say I'm amazing or anything, but I know my skills and what I had."
THE HISTORY OF THIS PROTEST
In an interview with NFL.com last season, Kaepernick explained why he started first sitting out and then kneeling during the national anthem.
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick said, to NFL.com. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
He said, "I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right."
