A white referee with an alleged history of racist behavior ordered a New Jersey high school wrestler, who is Black, to cut off his dreadlocks or forfeit the match.
TMZ reports referee Alan Maloney told Andrew Johnson that “his hair cover was not sufficient and gave him 2 choices — chop off the locks or lose the match.”
Mike Frankel, the Sports Director for SNJ Today News, thinks Johnson’s actions are the “Epitome of a team player.” That may be, but he totally ignores the racist aspect of this attack on a high school student.
As you can see in the video, Johnson wins the match but looks totally defeated afterwards. His teammates seem to have urged him to allow his hair to be cut, and watching the unknown woman take the scissors to his dreadlocks and cut them off is painful to see.
Look at Johnson’s facial expressions after the match.
Why didn’t his coach and teammates stand up to the referee?
TMZ points to the referee’s “history of racist behavior”:
Now, it’s been revealed the ref has a history of racist behavior — using a racial slur toward a black man during a social gathering in 2016 … and getting his ass kicked in the process.”
The offended party (an African American man) was so pissed, he slammed Maloney to the ground following the slur.
Maloney later apologized for the incident and the body that oversees high school wrestling in New Jersey ordered him to complete a sensitivity training class.
Soledad O’Brien sums up what some are saying: