Comments About Race In The YouTube Discussion Thread Of A 2013 High School Stomp N Shake Cheer Battle Between A Black Squad & A Mostly White Squad

onlyprettyme, Nov. 1, 2013

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This pancocojams post showcases a 2013 YouTube video of a side line stomp and shake cheer battle (held during the football game) between two San Diego, California cheerleading squads.

Every member of one squad (Morse wearing blue & white) was Black and most of the members of the other squad were White (Serra- wearing white & red).

Many of the comments that are quoted in this post refer to the cheerleaders' race. However,  some of these comments provide information about stomp n shake cheerleading and its cheer battle component.

The content of this post is presented for historical and sociological purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This compilation consists of almost all the comments that mention race which are found in the the discussion thread for this embedded video. These comments are in stark contrast to the racist comments that are sampled in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/racist-comments-in-youtube-discussion.html "Racist Comments In A YouTube Discussion Thread About A High School Stomp N Shake Cheer Battle That Ended In A Fight". In that video's discussion thread (and other discussions threads about the same fight), several commenter referred to the African American cheerleaders as "primitive", and referred to these cheerleaders as representative of aggressive people who are always fighting. A lot of commenters referred to these cheerleaders and other Black people as criminals, animals who belong in a zoo, people who smelled, people who need to go back to Africa, etc. 

In contrast, the African American commenters (and the other commenters) in the discussion thread for the video that is embedded in this pancocojams post focus on their opinions about the mostly White cheerleading squad being boring, not knowing how to do stomp n shake cheers, and being disrespectful to the other squad because they walked off when the squad was doing cheers. These commenters didn't give any personal insults or any insults about the White cheerleaders' ancestry (other than the self-congratulating (and group congratulating) statements that a Black stomp and shake cheerleading squad would automatically beat a White (or other non-Black) cheerleading squad because Black people naturally have more rhythm than other races.  

I haven't attempted to transcribe any of the cheers that are thrown (performed) in this cheer battle. However, I believe that the words to those cheers are typical of stomp n shake's bragging/insulting cheers. (I think that Morse - the squad that consists of all Black cheerleaders) did Winston Salem State University's now classic "We Cheer The Best" .

This post also doesn't focus on how the squads did cheers except to note Morse cheerleaders conformed to the stomp and shake cheerleading style much more than Serra cheerleaders did. Notice Morse's upstomps (high kicks) and their shakes and jiggle pops (rapid shakes). 

As an aside, this 2013 video documents the spread of stomp n shake cheerleading outside of North Carolina and the Virginia/Washington D.C. areas where it originated in the late 1960s/early 1970s.  

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SELECTED COMMENTS
These comments are given in relative chronological order except for replies, with the oldest comments given first.

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only

1. Cynthia Mayfield, 2013
"IMO, Cheerleaders should support their team w/positive spirit, encourage the crowd, and be leaders.  Third quarter is supposed to be a time of bonding between two schools, a time to say “Hi” and have fun, not be competitive or derogatory. Morse brings a unique style to games, that if done w/class, is an enjoyable display of school spirit, but if done w/hostility or mean-spirit, only degrades their squad. My advice: Don’t respond to inappropriate cheers/taunts, simply clap and walk away."

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2. Onlyprettyme. 2013
"Morse will respond when the time is fit... morse called out no one as you can see.... Serra wasn't talkinh all this blah talk when they.were bragging about "battling" Hoover so get off my comments being a sour patch... this is all fun and games .... did you write the book on " 3rd quarter bonding" .... dont worry I'll wait for that answer..."

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3. Naiya, 2016
"It isnt inappropriate at all. Maybe you arent aware of this form of cheer which is called "Stomp and Shake". orginated by black people at primarily black schools. This was a friendly rivalry which, SERRA(the mainly white team) called out MORSE( the black team). The "Chump off/cheer battle" was  planned out nothing was done in harm. It was all fun. Now if you come to the Dirty South now that is when things can get messy with cheers like this. I know first hand because, i was a cheerleader from 2010 to 2014 at Banneker high school in Georgia. we have alot of rivals because they have alwyas been that way since the 70s tbh and some schools we are friends just not when we are in uniform. There is actually a few schools who got always get mad at us (the cheerleaders) for how raw our cheers are to where we had to leave out of the back door because people have planned to fight us. we didnt curse or anything it is just our word placement that gets people with subtle himts of shade. But we are also two time regional champs( 2012 and 2013). so we have something to back up our talk. But we make sure we cheer on our team of course.because they are our frie ds also. The cheerleaders are actually disliked by alot of girls in my school due to us being close with the guys. And some girls feel like we would steal their man when really we are just friends with the basketball and football team."

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4. Flower, 2017
"Thise who are commenting saying Serra couldn’t take the heat probably don’t understand that not all schools practice Cheer Battles. A cheerleaders job is to Cheer their own school on, not battle another school. That’s what you go to Competiotion for. I’m not against the idea of battling, but if they saw the girls walking away then why continue battling? Their coach might be the one who doesn’t allow them to battle. Or maybe their administration. You never know the rules of a school. So to say that they “lost” is unfair in my book. Ps does anyone know what state these cheerleaders are from?"

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5. Somethin Creative Dance, 2017
"Flor Padilla-Huerta battles are for the sideline. Not cheer competition.... The teams are from California and before this event the Serra cheerleaders said they were going to battle Morse. The feel good cheer Serra did was a battle cheer not a plan ol "we feel good cheer" one this about Morse is they will never start a battle but will always finish it."

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6. Nat Loves God, 2019
"Quit making this about color both sucked in my opinion"

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7. Natasha Palmer, 2013
"The battle was instigated on Twitter by Serra throughout the week.  It is a friendly battle which entertains the crowd.  It was fun and entertaining for everyone.   The classless act was when Serra returned to Twitter to continue the battle.  Morse offers a unique style of cheer that is meant to entertain not degrade.  See it fir what it is intended a friendly battle that should be left on the field."

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8. U.A. Lewis, Esq, 2013
"Serra Cheer did a good job; however, they clearly started the battle, so if class is to be measured and distributed I would have to give it to Morse Cheer and their response. They were challenged and responded without a second thought or meeting to generate a response plan. Morse Cheer looked like they stay ready, unlike Serra Cheer who had to pause, get in a huddle and discuss how to respond, to the response. Great jobs to all you young ladies!"

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9. Preesha Jones, 2013
"Excuse me Rachel but as far as I can see Morse did their cheers with precision and the cheerleaders as well conducted themselves with respect along with representing their school with excellent school spirit. What is unclassy is going on social media's & putting down another school because they prevailed where one did not. Which is what the opposing team resulted to. Ultimately Morse gave their crowd a good show & made many Morse Tigers proud to call themselves alumni or a current student."

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10. T_ miche_, 2016
"I knew at the beginning of the video that lil whit team was gonna lose, bore babies"

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11. tiakhamsone, 2019
"T_ miche_  they both have white on each team."
-snip-
For what it's worth, I didn't notice any White cheerleaders in Morse's squad. I noticed that Serra had some Black cheerleaders in their squad. 

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12. Q.veen. kaedri, 2016
"not tryna be rude😂😂 but once I saw it was a mostly black team versus a mostly white team it was over"

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13. T_ miche_, 2016
"right lmao"

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14. Fatima Toure, 2016
"😂😂"

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15. Dominique orange, 2016
"Exactly"

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16. M E S H A B A B Y, 2016
"Yaaass dawg 😂😂😂😁😁"

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17. TeaHas BeenSpilt, 2016
"FACTS😂"

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18. TAZY
"Lmao you right"

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19. Audrey Hamilton, 2016
"this is true on so many levels 😂"

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20. Aaron Williams, 2019
"I don't think they fully understood what they were getting into!"

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21. Nat Loves God, 2019
"If your talking about the girls wearing green and white sorry but they SUCKED .. And color don't matter"
-snip-
The screen photo for this commenter was that of a young White woman.

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Laina Wells, 2016
22. "Black cheers are always lit. Period *shrugs

 

And the white team was mad rude. Typical."
-snip-
"mad rude"= very rude

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23. itsmakenziiee, 2017
"Laina Wells exactly"

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24. k h, 2018
"Laina Wells yeah nvm white girls just walked away"
-snip-
"nvm"= never mind

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25. Nat Loves God, 2019
"Not always"

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26. Rashieka Ennis, 2016 
"Basically white vs. black"

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27. Naiya, 2016
"No where near it. They should have never stepped to them. And it is SQUAD VS.SQUAD. Not a color thing unless you make it that way Amber, 2016

"The red team was mean, they were walking away when it was the blue teams turn which was very disrespectful and shows poor sportsmanship"

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28. Naiya, 2016
"see that is how most white cheer teams do when  think they can outdo a mainly black cheer team in a "chump off". i remember when i was in high school and this white school came to play us. they brought their cheerleaders they kept provoking us because they heard about my squad and our rep for demolishing our rivals in chump offs. they did a certain chump off and they got in our bleachers. whilst doing so, when we told them not too. we got pissed so did our school and coach. our coach Gave the que  to Mortal Kombat voice FINISH THEM!. we did 2 chump cheers they backed off when we did our infamous one (credit to WSSU) "You get s no repect in here". And they told the National Cheer Association on us smh. Cause you arent supposed to do chump cheers. That team got in their feelings. And we out flipped them with only our 2 strongest tumblers. They gotta realize what ring of fire they stepping into. Also my squad won regionals back to bavk in 2012 and 2013. so we werent the typical Black Cheer Squad.
-snip-
I've never come across the referent "chump cheers" before. A "Chump" means "a stupid or foolish person", "a person who is easily tricked".  Therefore, "chump cheers" probably means “dissin” cheers, i.e. "cheers that insult the other squad or their school". 

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29. itsmakenziiee, 2017
"Rayyah Amber exactly"

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30. Aislinn Vasquez, 2017
"it means they're backing off"

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31. Rayyah Amber, 2017
"What is ''Professional" by that i think you mean just tumbling and doing cartwheels only, if they wanted to do that why not join Gymnastics? Their is a key difference between the two sports which is the cheer and group aspect in it, Any sport is about challenging your competition and working your ass off to better yourself and if in cheer leading that means perfecting other portions of the sport your not to good at then i suggest you get to it, the blue team seems to have both tumbling and cheering down, as the receiving end you don't just walk away from the field because you feel like the other team is better, if you do that you will never get better. Do basketball players or Football Players walk away from the field if the other team scores?, No they stick it out in hopes of coming out victorious."

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32. Aaron Williams, 2019
"I don't think they fully understood what they were getting into!"

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33. Nat Loves God, 2019
"If your talking about the girls wearing green and white sorry but they SUCKED .. And color don't matter"

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34. Shyonna Willis, 2020
"😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀 I'm dead bruh I thought the same thing 😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣"

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35. Peyton, 2017
"black cheerleader are better cheerleaders than white cheerleaders they jus dont have voice for it they sound like little girls 😭 and they cheer jus like how the do on tv 😂😂💯! so unoriginal

i hate this 😂"
-snip-
"Don't have [the] voice for it" refers to the Serra squad not using bass voices that is characteristic of stomp n shake cheerleading.

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36. Allison Bailey, 2018 
"i’m a white person but i personally like the blue better because when the red was done they clapped for them and when the blue was going they just walked away.

 

and the blue team has better tumbling."

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37. Shyonna Willis, 2020

"😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀 I'm dead bruh I thought the same thing 😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣"

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38. Nakiyah Jacobs, 2019
"No shade 😂But when I saw a mostly fully white team against a full black team I knew it was over 👎🏾🤣"
-snip-
"No shade" comes from the drag culture saying "no tea no shade". It means "I don't mean any disrespect, [but the truth is that...] 

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39. Slime Szn, 2020
"The team that was majority white cheers were lame asf 💀"

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40. Quin Tell, 2020
"I love the fact that the whites girls thought they couldn't flip but was salty as hell"
-snip-
From https://www.dictionary.com/browse/salty "Salty is a slang term for irritated, angry, or resentful, especially as a result of losing or being slighted. This sense of salty originates in and was popularized by Black English." 

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