An Alabama woman says she was let go from her position as a volunteer cheerleading coach after complaining about racist shirts worn by the team’s assistant vice president.
Kayleigh Tipton said she showed up to Boaz youth cheerleader practice one day and saw Brian McCracken and his friend, Brian McDowell, wearing some questionable apparel, WAFF reported.
McCracken, who is the assistant vice president of the cheerleading squad, was wearing a shirt that featured a robed member of the Ku Klux Klan in front of a burning cross, accompanied by the words, “The Original Boys In The Hood.”
Meanwhile, McDowell was wearing a shirt that simply read, “White Pride.”

Tipton told the news station she contacted Commissioner Kenny Jones, who said he told the parents “they are no longer allowed to wear that type of shirt at any NAYF function.”
“We have zero tolerance for any kind of discriminatory apparel or anything,” Jones told WAFF.
But when Tipton showed up for the following practice, Vice President for Boaz Cheerleading Melynnda McCracken told her she was no longer needed as a volunteer.
“I’m just disgusted because I feel like I didn’t do anything wrong besides make a complaint, (one) that should have been kept private to begin with,” Tipton said. “I asked why and (McCracken) could not give me any reason.”
Jones said Tipton’s complaint was unrelated to the request.
“There was some parent concerns (about) some drama that was going on, so we had to go in, evaluate, do our diligence and see what actions were necessary,” he said.
Both Brian and Melynnda McCracken have since quit. They insisted the controversial shirts were worn as a joke, but Tipton and her husband, Cody, did not find it humorous.
“It’s hard for a biracial child that is 4 and 5 to understand what racism is,” Cody told WAFF. “It just outrages me and a lot of other parents but no one will stand up to it because of the consequences their children will get.”