The #TakeAKnee movement has started, and many have joined in the movement after comments that Trump made which were indirectly towards Colin Kaepernick. The comment was about if any NFL owners see players “disrespecting the flag” they should fire them. But there is a woman in the midst of the protest who was #TakingAKnee with Colin Kaepernick all this time.
(Photo from RaiannaBrown.com)
Meet Raianna Brown. She is an industrial and systems engineering student at Georgia Tech and co-founder of RAIIN Dance Theater, and she is the girl behind the viral picture of the dancer (not a cheerleader) on the field during a Georgia Tech football game against University of Miami last year. Brown decided to take a knee in light of the killing of Terrance Crutcher, an unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The next day Brown posted her photo on her Instagram page and the picture became a huge hit. Brown decided to take a knee the rest of the season.
(TheCut.com)
After #TakeAKnee became rapid again at the end of September, Brown now reposted this picture on her twitter quoting this moment was her “proudest & scariest moment as a yellow-jacket happened at the same time.”
(Raianna Brown’s Twitter Page: @FreeSPIRIT_5678)
Brown is currently not on the Georgia Tech dance team due to hip surgery in May. Her dance company will put on their first production, In Human, on Nov. 17 at the Robert Ferst Center for The Arts at Georgia Tech.
(Photo from Bustle.com)
Many times during this movement (and other movements too) female athletes taking a knee get overlooked by their male counterparts who decided to take a knee. I am glad that Brown is getting the recognition that she deserves for sticking up for what she believes in. I could not imagine the feelings that she going through when she decided to get down on one knee as a black female at a predominately white institution (PWI) and be the only one doing that. Even though we go to rival schools, I commended her and are inspired by her actions.