CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — Cartersville High School cheerleaders are speaking out about a hate crime targeting them.
Someone wrote the “N-word” and some other obscenities in their cheer room Tuesday and ruined their uniforms. Police have made an arrest.
The cheerleaders told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes that they were mad instead of sad and what made them so upset is that the attack felt personal after the person vandalized their uniforms and they mentioned the uniforms weren’t cheap.
“What’s the reason behind it, you know?” cheerleader Bria Callan said.
The cheerleaders said someone spray-painted the “N-word” on their refrigerator and ruined their uniforms by pouring mustard and coffee creamer on them.
“We already have a negative image on us just because we’re a mostly Black team,” Callan said.
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“It made everybody mad. We have 15 Black girls and one white girl, and it made her mad too,” cheerleader Makaya Williams said.
Police ended up arresting a minor for the incident, but the cheer coach didn’t like the way the situation was handled.
Cheerleaders had to look at the damage again when they got to school the next morning.
A spokesperson for Cartersville City Schools said miscommunication was the problem because administrators began their investigation immediately.
“The joint investigation with Cartersville Police Department concluded within 24 hours - on early afternoon Wednesday - with the arrest of a juvenile. Cartersville City Schools does not tolerate any actions that make our students and staff feel unsafe,” the district said.
The district went on to say they couldn’t clean everything up because it was an active crime scene.
The girls hope that the student gets more than just suspension for this.
“If it was just the writing on the refrigerator - not that it wasn’t serious - but OK. But since they’ve vandalized our uniforms, it kind of felt personal,” Callan said.
The Bartow chapter of the NAACP didn’t want to comment on this situation just yet so Fernandes called the Atlanta chapter.
The president, Gerald Griggs, is demanding accountability and action because he believes there’s a deeper issue behind why this hate crime was committed.
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