Another day, another incident that indicates Black student athletes aren’t always safe on predominantly white sports teams.

A black cheerleader at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, allegedly pretended to be a white senior cheerleader’s “pet” on an imaginary leash while the team stayed at a Florida hotel for the UGA National High School Cheerleading Championships, the It was reported by the Miami Herald. The alleged incident took place in February, and now the black teenager, a 16-year-old freshman, and her parents are suing the Cumberland Valley School District and several administrators, coaches and members of the booster club. The suit accuses the defendants of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and student equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

According to the lawsuit, filed last Thursday in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the black student, who has not been identified by name, received a call from his teammate to go to another room where the rest of the team had gathered. When she entered the room, she allegedly crawled on all fours and pretended to be her teammate’s pet while her teammates took videos and pictures of the “humiliating” act. The suit also alleges that one of the student’s coaches instructed her to keep quiet about what happened on the flight home.

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The lawsuit also states that the pet incident is hardly an isolated incident of racism the student has encountered at his school.

From the Herald:

Coaches “did everything in their power to take away (her) enjoyment of the sport solely because of her race,” starting when she joined the team in the summer of 2023, the lawsuit said.

The student was told she was not a “cheerleader” by one of the coaches, despite receiving an award for her “elite” tumbling skills, according to court documents.

The cheerleader was also singled out as the person who filmed all the competitive tournaments, leaving her out of many team photos, the lawsuit said. Although the girl was in the photos, she would sometimes be cropped or “hidden” in online posts, according to court documents.

When she boarded a bus to attend a football game, the black student had to wait to board the bus until her white teammates had been “boarded and seated,” according to the lawsuit. “This call back to the Segregation Era was maintained by coaches and the other cheerleaders,” according to court documents. This act was witnessed by school faculty and officials, the complaint said.

It is unclear what is causing the damage 40-page lawsuit is applying, but the student and her family are demanding a jury trial.

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