All-Star Themed Practice Controversy

[cheernerd5678]

I am happy that my gym is so positive and Ms. Pascale will beat some butt, if anyone came in with any negative outfits.... For me when they have a Theme Practice - The coaches strive real hard to announce it beforehand and makes it real clear that everybody must have the clothes before they agree on it... I have never gone out and purchase a theme practice outfit for my child, if it is not in our closet, the coaches will tell the children to just wear the colors... Until this day, I still love to see the children dressed as Soldiers - Camouflage with the black stripes under their eyes... (One of the themes before NCA)

We always have a "ready for battle" practice before our first comp of the season. Camo, black stripes, all black, "ground crew" and "flight crew" bows if people have them or written on their bodies if they don't.
For HS cheer we did a practice before state that I loved, we all wore all black and someone brought sharpies and we wrote what we needed to focus on on our arms, so "stay strong," "breathe," "land my tumbling," etc. I actually loved it. It turned our struggling spots into a more positive thing, and everyone had something to write, so it wasn't focusing on one struggling stunt or pass.
Other themes - decades, pjs, tie dye, neon, animal print, favorite color, favorite gym, crazy hair.... so many positive and fun themes, why go with a negative one?

 

[Cheermom1969]

To be honest, my first reaction to reading your comments and the gangster label, I did not relate it to Black Gangsters and Pregnant Black Teenagers, but the White gangsters, like Scarface and all the Italian mobsters...

As a Mom, my daughter would not walked out of the house representing any of these negative caricatures of subcultures... These things do not represent us and should never be glorify, especially in a school setting... Matter of fact, why not have the athletes come dress up like Nazi officers and Hitler, if we really want to go down this road... I am actually one of those insane Moms that will transfer my child out of that school, if they do not fire any and all involve for this foolishness! I am totally Serious and angry about this CRAP!
There are so many positive things that our cheerleaders should want to represent - but, but,but...
You know let me stop here, I have so much to say but I am too angry!:banghead:

PS: If you are under 18 years old, Please leave the room because it is getting ready to go down here...
Sorry back on Soapbox on this topic - If we are going dig into the bottom of the barrel for themes - Why leave any culture out-I am for equal opportunity insults-
1. Pimps (boys) and Hos(girls)
2. Blackface with huge Afro wigs
3. Klu Klux Klan
4. Trailer Park Trash
5. Massa(boys) and slaves

I know you're heated and I do not want to argue with you but #4, I'm a white girl in Cali and I had a white trash Bunco theme at my house. I've never laughed so hard at my Mexican girlfriends in their WT outfits in my life. Too funny.

(This is not direct at you) I think sometimes people go out of their way to be offended at things. These girls did something stupid but ultimately harmless. Nobody was hurt by this. I don't get offended when I see a black person with white makeup on in a "white person" costume. Just my .2

 

[Cheermom1969]

My university in our city accidentally made the mistake of cowboys and Indians.. They had to take culture classes and apologize....

What? That's just stupid. Unless the kids dressed as Indians were acting like morons.

 

[TheVipersMom]

I know you're heated and I do not want to argue with you but #4, I'm a white girl in Cali and I had a white trash Bunco theme at my house. I've never laughed so hard at my Mexican girlfriends in their WT outfits in my life. Too funny.

(This is not direct at you) I think sometimes people go out of their way to be offended at things. These girls did something stupid but ultimately harmless. Nobody was hurt by this. I don't get offended when I see a black person with white makeup on in a "white person" costume. Just my .2

Yeah I personally think stuff like that is hilarious. No one is making fun of them, I mean what if that's how they really dressed in real life and they didn't have to play dress up to look like that? I thought our cholas or whatever they are looked super cute. As well as any other theme along the nature. It is supposed to be fun. Our gym is very positive and our owner last season (we have a new one this year) when those girls dressed like that was a woman with very strict religious views and strong morals. She didn't think it was right for any girl to even wear a sports bra which is why it never started happening at our gym till this year and she didn't even get offended by the dress up day.

 

[arispurplecheerkitty]

What? That's just stupid. Unless the kids dressed as Indians were acting like morons.

They offended the aboriginals in our town because they didn't dress in the correct clothes and said it was a costume.

 

[Pebbles49]

I know you're heated and I do not want to argue with you but #4, I'm a white girl in Cali and I had a white trash Bunco theme at my house. I've never laughed so hard at my Mexican girlfriends in their WT outfits in my life. Too funny.

(This is not directed at you) I think sometimes people go out of their way to be offended at things. These girls did something stupid but ultimately harmless. Nobody was hurt by this. I don't get offended when I see a black person with white makeup on in a "white person" costume. Just my .2

You know Cheermom1969, it could be the hypersensitivity comes out in me based on my life experiences... I grew up in the Deep South in the early 60's, during the Civil Rights Movement and had the unpleasantness of witnessing how these stereotypes and discrimination can have a negative impact on people lives...(As a little girl, I witnessed the KKK shoot up my Uncle's house because my cousin allegedly "slapped" a little white girl, luckily, they were visiting our house across the road when the shooting happened - they moved to NJ and my family soon followed them and that is why I live in NJ) so for some people these Theme Practices, such as these are still raw and will never be erased in my psyche. There is a phrase I grew up on and was hammered into our heads - "If you forget your Past, You are destined to relive It." I am teaching my daughter to never take small slights, lightly... We had people who died because of these small slights, these are things that young people now think are so funny! I am truly sorry for not being able to laugh!

PS: Why you think the Jews hammered the Holocaust experiences to their young people, because of that phrase above...there is nothing funny about mocking, denigrating groups of people for fun!

Off my Soapbox...

 

[laughAlittle]

It's easy to not be offended when the ignorance is not directed at you.

 

[Cheermom1969]

You know Cheermom1969, it could be the hypersensitivity comes out in me based on my life experiences... I grew up in the Deep South in the early 60's, during the Civil Rights Movement and had the unpleasantness of witnessing how these stereotypes and discrimination can have a negative impact on people lives...(As a little girl, I witnessed the KKK shoot up my Uncle's house because my cousin allegedly "slighted" a little white girl - they moved to NJ and my family soon follow them and that is why I live in NJ) so for some people these Theme Practices, such as these are still raw and will never be erased in my psyche. There is a phrase I grew up on and was hammered into our heads - "If you forget your Past, It will soon come back on you." I am teaching my daughter to never take small slights, lightly... We had people who died because of these small slights, these are things that young people now think are so funny! I am truly sorry for not being able to laugh!

PS: Why you think the Jews hammered the Holocaust experiences to their young people, because of that phrase above...there is nothing funny about mocking, denigrating groups of people for fun!

Off my Soapbox...

hey, you can stay on your soapbox. I get it. I would be hypersensitive, too, if I had your life experience.

But cheerleaders dressed as gang members doesn't register to me as anything but silliness. And if gang members are offended, I have to say, I couldn't give a rat's *ss.

BTW, I'm glad your family moved to NJ and got out of that nightmare.

 

[Pebbles49]

hey, you can stay on your soapbox. I get it. I would be hypersensitive, too, if I had your life experience.

But cheerleaders dressed as gang members doesn't register to me as anything but silliness. And if gang members are offended, I have to say, I couldn't give a rat's *ss.

BTW, I'm glad your family moved to NJ and got out of that nightmare.

Thank you for understanding why I am hypersensitive on this topic-- You know what?
I have to stop reading this topic because it is opening up some bad memories and wounds in my heart--

 

[ErinS]

I was originally going to just ignore this whole thread and keep on keeping on.

I'm clearly black. I'm from the south. My POV on everything is largely based on being black and in the south.

While this theme does not reflect me or my upbringing in any capacity, it is a clear as day that the intent was to poke fun at a minority group...whether it be black or latino (because when the article was initially posted on The Root a few days ago, the comments were that they looked more like "mexican gangsters" than black people). Stevie Wonder could see where they were going with that

Let me be clear, "ghetto", "ratchet", "thug", "gangster", "hoodrat" etc are all (to me) mainstream ways of saying the n-wood or alluding to any other minority group that people love to look down upon. (For instance the poster that referred to the "ghetto" Walmart....to me that just said 'the black' Walmart). That being said the intent of this themed practices, or any other practice that touches on this subject, is and always will be racist.


White privilege allows for most of you all to not see this from my perspective.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I was originally going to just ignore this whole thread and keep on keeping on.

I'm clearly black. I'm from the south. My POV on everything is largely based on being black and in the south.

While this theme does not reflect me or my upbringing in any capacity, it is a clear as day that the intent was to poke fun at a minority group...whether it be black or latino (because when the article was initially posted on The Root a few days ago, the comments were that they looked more like "mexican gangsters" than black people).

Let me be clear, "ghetto", "ratchet", "thug", "gangster", "hoodrat" etc are all (to me) mainstream ways of saying the n-wood or alluding to any other minority group that people love to look down upon. That being said the intent of this themed practices, or any other practice that touches on this subject, is and always will be racist.


White privilege allows for most of you all to not see this from my perspective.

Thank you ma'am. That's what I was getting at in my post but you said it so much better.

 

[ErinS]

I know you're heated and I do not want to argue with you but #4, I'm a white girl in Cali and I had a white trash Bunco theme at my house. I've never laughed so hard at my Mexican girlfriends in their WT outfits in my life. Too funny.

(This is not direct at you) I think sometimes people go out of their way to be offended at things. These girls did something stupid but ultimately harmless. Nobody was hurt by this. I don't get offended when I see a black person with white makeup on in a "white person" costume. Just my .2

Probably because White Face was never a beloved past time, whereas Black Face was

 

[TheVipersMom]

I know plenty of ghetto white people. I don't think any of those words you mentioned describe black people. I feel those words more of a way you act and portray yourself then the color of your skin. I'm not sure why everyone still thinks it's about the color of someone's skin. That's so old. My kid is half black and I don't feel like (besides some people don't think I'm her mom) people judge her based off her race alone.

Also there are Mexicans all in that pic, we live in Texas. I don't recall any Mexican parents being upset about their kids dress up day. My kid attends a school where white and black people are the minority. Where I go to awards ceremonies for parents and they are presented in Spanish. Lol

 

[Official OWECheer]

Thank you for understanding why I am hypersensitive on this topic-- You know what?
I have to stop reading this topic because it is opening up some bad memories and wounds in my heart--

:kiss:

Let's hijack this and make it positive, shall we?

 

[Official OWECheer]

Probably because White Face was never a beloved past time, whereas Black Face was

Reminds me of the thread in which we all discussed tanning and choreography.... tanning and skin bleaching are not the same thing because of the history behind them. Tanning was made fashionable in the 30s, while skin lightening is a worldwide epidemic, goes back for 1000s of years and is a FAR bigger industry than tanning.