A girls high school basketball team in New York State is claiming it was subjected to anti-black taunts at a game last weekend, but thus far evidence supporting the accusation remains elusive.
According to Rockland/Westchester Journal News, East Ramapo HS player Dejane Buckley said fans for the Scarsdale HS team yelled “Black N-words” at her team’s bench.
Buckley also alleged a Scarsdale player “started barking at [East Ramapo players] from the bench,” that the Scarsdale coach “was laughing,” and that a Scarsdale “teacher or administrator” had heard the racial epithets from the stands.
The East Ramapo squad ended up forfeiting the game with a bit over four minutes remaining, and Buckley said there were more racist taunts as she and her team exited the court.
Both schools’ athletic directors said they began an investigation immediately following the game, but “so far, th[e] review has not identified a specific individual or group who engaged in any inappropriate conduct.”
The ADs added “Despite the absence of specific information, we view any act against the dignity of any student-athlete as unacceptable. I know that the Scarsdale and East Ramapo communities join us in denouncing all acts of hate.”
MORE: Black high schoolers demand right to use n-word; want white teacher canned for saying it
A Scarsdale parent who claimed to be present in the stands during the game refuted East Ramapo’s allegations.
Jason Paris, whose daughter plays for Scarsdale, told Scarsdale 10583 that it was a controversial call by one of the referees, not racial taunts, which caused the game to end abruptly.
“Nothing remotely close to what is being reported happened at the game,” Paris said. “It was a normal game up to halfway through the fourth quarter when one of the Ramapo girls committed a foul. When the same girl had a second foul called against her the East Ramapo coach began berating the referees about foul calls. He said, ‘that’s it, we’re done’ and the referees declared the game over and left the court.”
Paris added there were only about “12-14 fans” in attendance, “all sitting together and nothing negative of any nature was said […] Seeing this on the news, from parents who teach their children to never do anything hateful is devastating. Parents and girls are very upset at what appears to be a total fabrication.”
The same interscholastic athletic governing body, Section 1, dealt with allegations of antisemitic harassment against a private Jewish school’s girls basketball team last month. In that case, the local NAACP declared there was “no evidence” of antisemitism despite not having spoken to any players from the Jewish team.
MORE: Two black girls wrote ‘All [n-words] should die’ graffiti in latest hate-crime hoax
IMAGE: News 12 New York/X
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.