School Principal Under Fire for Calling Cheerleaders’ Routine ‘Ghetto’

Cheerleaders and their supporters at a Maryland high school are up in arms over what were taken to be disparaging comments — by the school principal — about the team’s dance style.

The principal, Art Williams, who is black, reportedly called the Springbrook High cheerleaders’ “cheer battle” routine “a little too ghetto” and asked the squad to “tone it down” during a game against a rival school, according to an article on Springbrook’s website. Williams later apologized, saying he was merely parroting the words of the other school’s principal.

According to the article, “Williams later claimed that he was quoting Paint Branch’s principal when he called the team ‘ghetto,’ but the comment stirred controversy among the team. Cheerleaders and their parents were very offended.

“Two days later, athletic director Dan Feher called a meeting with the team, hours before a home game against John F. Kennedy High School.

“Feher, who formerly worked in Paint Branch athletics, was standing close to their principal and heard the comments about our cheerleaders during the game.”

The cheerleaders cited HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) cheer squads as the reference point for their style, noting that they are a storied part of black American culture. Their routine combines “stomp and shake” styles, according to Fox 5 DC. The school’s article describes the current style as “traditional,” at least for the students, many of whom are black.

Feher later apologized to the cheerleaders, as well. Williams tweeted his apology on Monday and expressed regret in a post on the school’s website. “I regret the word choice and the harm that these comments have caused. The cheerleading team has always been at intrical [sic] part of the spirit and life of the school.”

Feher is now saying that he was simply trying to make sure the cheerleaders were being sportsmanlike, in accordance with MCPS Pompons and Cheer handbook, which forbids cheerleaders from making “disrespectful or derogatory yells, chants, songs, or gestures.”

Still, the “ghetto” comment stings, especially coming from another black person. The cheerleaders say they were told by the school they “shouldn’t be” proud of their cheer style, which co-captain Tyler Bragg maintains is connected to their culture. It seems that other notions of propriety were internalized by some members of the school administration, and are being applied to a group of girls who exist outside of that realm. It’s what some like to call respectability politics.

“The notion that all black culture, or black cultural expression, is ‘ghetto’ is a harsh, racist notion found in many parts of our society,” Brenda E. Stevenson, professor and Nickoll family-endowed chair of history at UCLA, told Yahoo Style in an email after watching a news segment on the story. “Africans from many different cultural groups who came as enslaved people contributed mightily to the development of the nation, its economy and its culture. The steps that the cheerleaders performed were related to traditional dance and rituals that were passed down from African societies to enslaved peoples in America to freed men and women who progressed, through their hard work in historic black colleges, to become well known and appreciated professionals and leaders. For anyone to denigrate this tradition is an insult to all the students at the high school, not just the African descended students. ”

The cheerleaders are boycotting performing, and are looking for answers from the principal. “We wanted to know why – is our style of cheer threatening to the Springbrook community?” co-captain Semira Bullock said to Fox 5. “Who exactly said the ghetto statement because there is a back and forth of who said it. Do we have to get rid of the cheers that we have been doing four-plus years? And what are the new cheers do we have to do to meet the new standards? Were these things said to us — would they have been said to other teams?” When the girls have answers to their questions, they said, that’s when they will cheer.

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