NJ athlete taunted with racial slurs at HS basketball game, mom says

HARDYSTON — The schools superintendent of a regional high school in Sussex County has promised a thorough investigation after parents said their son on a rival school's basketball team was subjected to racial slurs and obscenities during a game last week.

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, Wallkill Valley Regional High School hosted Lenape Valley Regional High School for a boys' basketball game.

Stefanie Dickerson said her son, Nasir Dickerson, a starting Guard for Lenape Valley, "was subjected to the sounds of monkey noises towards him, and being called a 'N***** & Monkey' throughout the whole game."

She shared a video clip on Facebook, taken during one of her son's free throws. There is crowd noise and shouts around the 10-second mark as Dickerson makes a shot.

The entire game was recorded with a single-camera and posted on YouTube by Mugs Media, with several commercial breaks. Around 25 minutes into the game, there is alternate footage of the same free throws that Dickerson took. In the Mugs Media shot, the crowd of home team fans can be seen in the bleachers.

Dickerson said Nasir's father also was escorted out of the game during the end of the 4th quarter after standing and returning a middle finger gesture to the rival team's fans. She said an armed security officer and Wallkill Regional Superintendent David Carr approached her husband and told him to get out.

In the game footage by Mugs Media, a man can be seen standing in the visiting team's cheering section while fans of Wallkill Valley Regional remain standing and gesturing. They are approached by an unidentified male adult, as seen in the still image below, but the camera then cuts to the scoreboard, followed by a commercial.

Dickerson said they were not the only people who witnessed the behavior and "hostile environment."

In a written statement to New Jersey 101.5 on Wednesday, Carr said "in response to allegations of racist and inappropriate conduct that occurred at the recent basketball game between Wallkill Valley and Lenape Valley, the district will undertake a thorough investigation. As a district, we take these accusations very seriously. Racism in any form will not, nor has it ever been tolerated at Wallkill Valley Regional High School. Respectfully, I would ask that the public refrain from rushing to judgement until the district can complete its investigation."

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