Duke women’s volleyball player Rachel Richardson was repeatedly called a racial slur by a fan at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse on Friday night, the player’s godmother says.
Lesa Pamplin said every time Richardson served the ball during the match between Duke and BYU, a fan in the BYU student section shouted the racial slur. At one point in the match, Pamplin said, Richardson was also “threatened by a white male.”
“My Goddaughter is the only Black starter for Dukes volleyball team,” Pamplin wrote on Twitter. “While playing yesterday, she was called a n— every time she served. She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.”
Pamplin says BYU did not immediately kick out the fan at the event. She wrote on Twitter the Duke volleyball team complained to the referees about the behavior, and a police officer was put next to the bench.
BYU banned the fan from BYU athletic venues. It also says the fan was not a student, even though they were sitting in the student section.
“All of God’s children deserve love and respect, and BYU athletics in completely committed to leading out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice of any kind and rooting out racism,” BYU athletics said in a statement. “When a student-athlete or fan comes to a BYU sporting event, we expect that they will be treated with love and respect and feel safe on our campus.
“To say we are extremely disheartened in the actions of a small number of fans in last night’s volleyball match in the Smith Fieldhouse between BYU and Duke is not strong enough language,” the statement continued. “We will not tolerate behavior of this kind. Specifically the use of a racial slur at any of our athletic events is absolutely unacceptable and BYU athletics holds a zero-tolerance approach to this behavior. We wholeheartedly apologize to Duke University and especially its student-athletes competing last night for what they experienced. We wanted BYU athletic events to provide a safe environment for all, and there is no place for behaviors like this in our venues.”
BYU has not yet responded to comment on why the fan was not immediately kicked out of the event.
Pamplin said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe talked to Richardson’s parents on Saturday. Duke’s next game in Provo has been moved to an alternate site, not on BYU’s campus.
“First and foremost, our priority is the well-being of Duke student-athletes,” Nina King, Duke’s athletic director, said in a statement. “They should always have the opportunity to compete in an inclusive, anti-racist environment which promotes equality and fair play. Following extremely unfortunate circumstances at Friday night’s match at BYU, we are compelled to shift today’s match against Rider to a different location to afford both teams the safest atmosphere for competition.”
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/5odCDvL
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