Photo: Courtesy of the Johnson Family
After a referee who oversaw a tournament at Buena Regional High School in New Jerseysaid that a black student must cut his dreadlocks in order to compete, the district’s superintendent never wants to work with him again.
While Johnson’s family did not speak during the meeting, their lawyer, Dominic Speziali, did voice their concerns.
“The blame here is on the referee,” Speziali said, CNN reports. “It’s still not clear to me why that had to happen, in that manner, to Andrew.”
Neither Cappuccio nor Speziali immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Many people who live in the district voiced their support of Johnson at Wednesday’s meeting, WPVI reports.
“I came here tonight because I’m a wrestler and I wanted to defend that kid,” said one resident, Steve Martinelli. “What I saw made me sick to my stomach.”
Another attendee added, “It doesn’t matter if he was black, white, green or purple. It broke my heart to watch that young man stand there and be humiliated like that.”
According to a statement Speziali released on Mondayon behalf of the Johnson family, Maloney was allegedly late to the match on Dec. 19 and missed weigh-ins, which the Johnsons said is normally when the determination of any rule violations takes place.
What’s more, “when he did evaluate Andrew, he [the referee] failed to raise any issues with the length of his hair,” Speziali contended.
“As the trainer is cutting Andrew’s hair in the middle of the gym, the referee is behind them directing her to keep cutting until he was satisfied with the length,” Speziali said.
Andrew had wrestled the weekend before with the same hair style “without issue,” according to his family’s statement, and he had asked to “be allowed to push his hair back as he did the weekend prior, but the referee again refused because ‘it wasn’t in its natural state.’ “
Cappuccio, the superintendent, saidin a previous statementthat “no school/district staff member influenced the student into making this decision.”
According to CNN, the New Jersey attorney general’s civil rights division is investigating.
Monday’s statement from the Johnsons also clarified that Andrew’s parents are still “are supportive of Andrew’s coaches and the team’s athletic trainer.”
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According toan October 2016 article in theCourier Post, the referee may have a history of racist behavior.
ThePostreports that in March of that year, Maloney allegedly called a black referee, Preston Hamilton, the n-word during a small gathering of a group of officials. Maloney and Hamilton had worked together at a youth tournament earlier that day.
Hamilton told the paper that Maloney poked him in the chest while saying the epithet and, in response, Hamilton slammed him to the ground. Maloney told the outlet that while he didn’t remember the incident — there was alcohol present at the gathering — he agreed with witness accounts of his behavior.
The New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association later ruled that it didn’t have the authority to fire Maloney over what happened. Its president said in a statement at the time: “We’re going to move forward from here and hopefully this thing has been resolved in the back of a lot of people’s minds.”
According to thePost, Maloney volunteered to pay for and participate in both an alcohol awareness and sensitivity training programs as punishment.
Andrew Johnson went on to win last Wednesday’s match but will not participate in his team’s match on Thursday to avoid the media attention, Spezialitold WPVI. He will wrestle again later in the season.
source: people.com
