Richardson, who is Black, is a sophomore outdoors hitter for Fight it out. She tweeted a statement Sunday detailing she was not the only player who was the target of the racist slurs and heckling at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.
“Friday night within our match against Brigham Young University the fellow African American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety from the match, ” Richardson tweeted.
“The slurs plus comments grew in to threats which caused us to feel unsafe. ”
In a declaration on Saturday, Duke University Vice Leader and Director associated with Athletics Nina King referenced “extremely regrettable circumstances” at the Fri match at BYU as a reason for changing the location of a Saturday match. In the statement, King said student-athletes should be able to compete in “an inclusive, anti-racist environment. ”
Watching the game on tv at the Richardson family home, Marvin Richardson said he had “no clue” what had taken place during the match, yet his daughter described her experience in order to him in detail soon after.
“After the game, we [Rachel and I] usually talk and she known as, but this was a different call, ” Marvin told CNN’s Brand new Day. “She has been crying, she had been upset and Rachel’s not the person who phone calls and cries over the loss, it’s simply not who she is.
“So we all knew something had been wrong and then as she started to show what was going on and what had happened during the game, first [we felt] fury, outrage and then simply a real need to make sure something was done to fix the things that came across all of us. ”
BYU issued an apology via Twitter on Saturday, even though did not confirm the specifics of the incident, and announced they had banned a lover from all athletic venues. According towards the statement, the lover was not a BYU student, but was sitting in the BYU student section.
Richardson said within a statement on Sunday that both BYU officials and coaching staff were made aware of the event during the game, “but failed to take the necessary steps to stop the unacceptable behavior that a safe atmosphere. ”
Even after the occurrence was brought to their attention, Richardson said BYU officials “failed to adequately tackle the situation, ” a sentiment that was echoed by her dad.
BYU women’s volleyball was not immediately available for opinion.
“No student athlete should have to go into any venue and be subjected to that kind of an atmosphere, ” Marvin Richardson said.
“You want a raucous crowd should you be the home team, that’s fantastic, but when it crosses that series, it becomes the responsibility of these who are in authority to make sure that atmosphere stays safe and free from any of those kinds of elements that would prohibit people from playing at their maximum level.
“What I’d like to notice going forward is we all make every effort to make sure that those venues are safe and free from that kind of action and when it interjects itself, that it is removed — instantly. I’ve been at places where coaches have taken a mic plus said: ‘Knock this off. If you don’t hit it off, we will have you kicked away from here. ‘
“That’s an action you can take right this moment, stop it while it’s happening. That will didn’t happen and I think that we can constantly do more.
“We’ve experienced volleyball for 30 years, I have four daughters who have played the game, we’ve always acquired that occasional idiot who’s just there in the crowd, but never an atmosphere like this where the girl said that she sensed afraid. ”