Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson details racist incident with BYU fan
Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson went into more detail about what occurred during a match between the Blue Devils and BYU on Friday during which she was the subject of threats and racist slurs coming from fans sitting in the student section.
Richardson, a 19-year-old sophomore outside hitter from Ellicott City, Maryland, spoke to ESPN on Tuesday more about the incident.
Toward the end of the second set of the match, Richardson said she went to serve when she heard the slur for the first time. When the teams switched sides and Duke was near the student section in the fourth set, she heard the slur again.
"I heard a very strong, negative racial slur," Richardson said. "So I served the ball, got through the play. And then the next time I went back to serve, I heard it extremely clear again, but that was the end of the game."
Duke coaches then went to officials to let them know about the situation. Nothing was done, but Richardson said at the time there was no thought to stopping the match.
Richardson said members of the BYU women's volleyball team reached out to her, and she said she spoke out to create awareness.
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"I believe that meeting anger with anger, it just starts a cycle of more anger," Richardson said. "As a young black woman in America. I know I don't have the privilege of reacting all the time or else it paints that face of, 'Oh, you're just another angry black woman.' And, you know, my black male counterparts, they also don't have that privilege or else it's just, 'Oh, that's just, like, an aggressive angry black man.'"
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday that he talked with Richardson and Duke volleyball coach Jolene Nagel about the incident, and then he addressed the crowd before the Cougars match. Holmoe admitted the university fell short of trying to stop fans from shouting racist comments to opposing players.
Richardson released a statement also saying that BYU was slow to respond to the fans' behavior.
"This is an opportunity to dig deep into closed cultures which tolerate amoral racist acts, such as those exhibited Friday night, and change them for the better," Richardson said. "It is not enough to indicate that you are not racist, instead you must demonstrate that you are anti-racist."
Holmoe said that the student section will be removed from behind the opponents bench at volleyball games for the foreseeable future, and that changes to their fan code of conduct will be implemented.
"I believe God puts you in places at certain times, near certain people for specific reasons," Richardson said. "And I believe that, and my teammates that, for some reason, my name was the one that blew up and I wholeheartedly (believe) that's because God had a purpose behind it. And that purpose was that maybe he knew that I would be able to meet people with compassion. And I don't want BYU to be singled out or looked at as a bad institution because of this one thing … that doesn't represent the entire university of BYU."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Duke women's volleyball player details racist incident with BYU fan
