An 11-year-old Colorado girl was kicked off a cheerleading squad because her coach refused to let her compete with her natural hair, her mother claims.
Tiyana Young, 27, told CBS News that her daughter, Niemah, was allowed to wear her naturally curly mane during last season at Diamond Elite All-Star Cheerleading in Denver. But the girl’s coach backtracked on that decision this season, calling out Niemah during a practice last month, Young said.
“The coach continues and asks the other teammates, ‘How do you feel that this African American girl gets to wear her natural hair?” Young recalled.
But the girl’s coach, Stephanie Trujillo, insisted that the dismissal stemmed from Young threatening staffers — and had nothing to do with Niemah not conforming to her teammates, who are primarily white and Latina.
“[The dismissal] was never based on the athlete or her ethnic background,” the gym said in a statement. “The decision was based on threats received that were directed at the staff which brought forth major safety concerns.”
Young posted on Facebook a series of text messages on Saturday detailing her exchange with Trujillo, who wrote that the girl would need to wear a $20 ponytail hairpiece to “avoid any conflict” with other athletes.
“She does not want to wear that new ponytail,” Young replied. “She said that is not her and that it makes her feel like her hair isn’t beautiful. How am I going to explain to my [11-year-old] that her curly hair is just as beautiful as straight hair but coaches don’t want you wearing your natural hair?”
Trujillo contended that she never said Niemah could wear her “natural hair” during competitions, the texts show.
“I told you she could wear her braids,” Trujillo said. “Unfortunately that is not her natural hair.”
Trujillo later singled out the girl during a practice on Nov. 2, Young told NBC News.
Young, who denied threatening anyone, she said the two-hour process to put her daughter’s hair in the required ponytail had occasionally left her lightheaded.
But Niemah’s teammates agreed to the uniform hair policy for competitions during a vote on Nov. 2, just two days before she was dismissed from the team, Trujillo said.
“Niemah’s teammates assured her that, regardless of her choices, they didn’t want her to feel bad,” Trujillo said. “Young’s statement is so far from the truth.”
Trujillo has sent Young a cease-and-desist letter citing “unlawful defamation, slander and/or libel” following Young’s appearance on “CBS This Morning,” NBC News reported.
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December 20, 2019 at 12:48AM
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