Racial Slur at BYU Game - Real or Hoax?

[smac97]

https://kjzz.com/news/south-carolina-coach-dawn-staley-stands-by-decision-to-cancel-byu-basketball-games-despite-reports-findings-racial-heckling-slur-duke-womens-volleyball-smith-fieldhouse-provo

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The University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach said her decision to cancel two games with Brigham Young University would not change despite news that a BYU-led investigation found no evidence of racial heckling at a recent volleyball game.

“I continue to stand by my position,” Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said in a statement Friday afternoon to KUTV 2News. “After my personal research, I made a decision for the well-being of my team. I regret that my university, my athletics director Ray Tanner and others got drawn into the criticism of a choice that I made.”

Staley announced last week that her team would not play the Cougars in two planned matchups after an August 26 volleyball game in which a BYU fan was accused of shouting racial slurs at Duke volleyball players. The fan was banned from all athletic events.
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However, on Friday, BYU announced an extensive investigation had revealed no evidence that fan – or anyone else – shouted racial slurs at Duke’s team, and the fan was reinstated.

Staley’s decision to cancel the games with BYU led to controversy. This week, a group of South Carolina lawmakers sent a letter to the Gamecocks’ coach and athletic director questioning the decision, according to WACH Fox.

The BYU-South Carolina games were scheduled for November 7 in Columbia, and in Provo sometime during the 2023-2024 season. Last week, BYU’s women’s basketball team said it was “extremely disappointed” South Carolina canceled the series.

https://www.deseret.com/2022/9/9/23344935/byu-duke-racism-stephen-a-smith-responds

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Racism is still a problem in this country, but making false or unclear allegations won’t help solve it, said ESPN host Stephen A. Smith on Friday during a “First Take” segment on BYU’s Aug. 26 volleyball match against Duke.

He and his co-hosts were responding to BYU Athletics’ new statement about the match, which addressed Duke player Rachel Richardson’s concerns about racist fans.
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On ESPN, Smith’s co-host, Marcus Spears, questioned why BYU moved so quickly to ban the fan if it hadn’t finished investigating the incident. The timeline is “a little bit crazy,” he said.

Smith noted that the new statement won’t stop many people from being skeptical of BYU. But he said his attention has shifted to having better conversations about racism.

“Racism (and) prejudice still exists in this country. We all know it. We all know how prevalent it is and we know that it’s something that completely needs to be eradicated. Having said that, we’re not doing ourselves any favors if we bring it up and broach it when it doesn’t exist. And that’s the key that we need to focus on,” he said, while adding that he’s still giving Richardson “the benefit of the doubt.”

On Friday, Smith and Spears did not take back the comments they made during ESPN’s earlier segment on the BYU-Duke volleyball match. During the Aug. 29 broadcast of “First Take,” they were both critical of BYU leaders, as the Deseret News reported at the time.

In his latest comments, Spears said he is open to Richardson facing punishment if it becomes clear that she was lying.

“I believe everyone should be held accountable for wrongdoing,” he said. “If these things didn’t occur, she needs to atone for that.”

Smith said that people need to be “mindful” moving forward and ensure that racism allegations are “as close to irrefutable as they can get.”

Good stuff, this.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/byu-investigation-exposes-medias-credulous-coverage-of-volleyball-players-racial-slur-allegation/

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At CNN, Alisyn Camerota wondered aloud why only one fan had been initially banned from BYU’s campus (he has since been exonerated and apologized to by the university) since “Richardson said she heard more than one person using racial slurs toward the black players.” Later, during an interview with BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, Camerota asked “what does it say about the BYU community and culture that this happened?”

Also on CNN, hosts Jim Acosta and Brianna Keilar blindly accepted the facts as Richardson offered them, with Acosta declaring that “a Duke volleyball player is speaking out after she and other black teammates were called racist slurs and threatened during a match against Brigham Young University on Friday,” and Keilar asserting that “A Division I volleyball match at Brigham Young University turned really ugly when black players from Duke University endured racial slurs from at least one fan in the crowd.“

Richardson’s claims were also featured prominently during an August 30 episode of ABC’s Good Morning America.

ABC News correspondent Janai Norman said she was “really impressed” with how the 19-year-old student was handling the situation.

“A lot of grace,” concurred host George Stephanopoulos.

The New York Times also ran with the story as told by only one of its participants, headlining its article on the incident “Racial Slur During College Volleyball Game Leads to Fan Suspension” and giving readers the impression that the atmosphere at the match might have easily resulted in racially motivated mob violence.

“Marvin Richardson, the father of the Duke volleyball player, said in an interview late Saturday that a slur was repeatedly yelled from the stands as his daughter was serving, making her fear ‘the raucous crowd’ could grow violent,” reported the Times, seemingly without having independently confirmed this account.
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Stephen A. Smith, one of the sports media firm’s most visible personalities, launched into an angry on-air rant in which he accused the university of “dereliction of duty.”

“I’m saying BYU — you did it! By allowing this to happen and not addressing expeditiously, not addressing it with a level of quickness and speed that you should’ve addressed this with,” said Smith.

https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/byu-duke-rachel-richardson-jay-bilas.html

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After BYU reverses ban on fan, Jay Bilas echoes Duke athletics’ support for Rachel Richardson

"We stand with and up for Rachel Richardson."

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And ESPN analyst (and Duke alum, and former Blue Devils’ player and assistant coach) Jay Bilas then retweeted that with further specific support for Richardson...
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So there’s a clear divide there. And it will be interesting to see what comes of this. The situation has already led to a ton of debate, in sports circles and beyond. And it’s likely to now produce even more. But it’s certainly notable to see Bilas, one of college sports’ most prominent voices, weighing in in support of Richardson.

https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/duke-must-answer-for-false-race-allegation/

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Duke must answer for false race allegation

It’s been nearly two weeks since BYU Women’s Volleyball fans were accused of repeated acts of racism by Duke University during a match.

After two weeks with zero evidence that this horrific allegation occurred, Duke University is obligated to fully admit the toxic, incendiary allegation that the Duke University Women’s Volleyball team was repeatedly harassed with racial epithets during a match with BYU in Provo, Utah is false. Demonstrably false.

Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson posted on Twitter that she was targeted and “racially heckled” during the away game at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse.

After this allegation was reported in hundreds of newspapers and on national television, there is not a single piece of evidence this occurred. Worse, a mountain of evidence refutes the allegation. The assertion that a fan or fans shouted the “N” word multiple times at Richardson did not happen and could not have happened.  

In total, Richardson and Duke appear to have falsely accused:

• An autistic man who is described as “mentally challenged” and handicapped of being the guilty party.
• BYU students at large yell racial epithets and allow others to do so.
• BYU administrators of not taking immediate action after being made aware of the allegations during the match.

Duke University, whose lacrosse team was famously falsely accused of race-tinged sexual violence causing considerable damage to the accused and the university, has a responsibility and duty more than any institution of higher learning in America to set the record straight and admit that continued racial heckling did not occur.

As reported by Amber Athey, the “story seems to have less evidence than the rape allegations once leveled against members of her school’s lacrosse team.”
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Richardson’s father told WTVD: “That wasn’t the full story. It’s not just one person during that time that was doing this,” he said. 

Duke University declined to comment on this story. 

Rachel Richardson expanded her claims further in an interview with ESPN that someone in the BYU student section shouted the N-word each time she was in the serving position.

In the fourth set, we went back to that side, and it was almost as if the atmosphere of the student section had changed,” she told ESPN. “Even my Black teammates who were on the bench, who don’t play, they were being called out, pointed at and it was really confusing as to why. That’s when the racial slurs and heckling just grew more and more intense.

I heard a very strong, negative racial slur… 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,” she said, adding that the BYU section had gotten “more extreme, more intense.

Richardson and Duke “identified” a man they said was responsible for yelling the word, and BYU immediately announced he was banned from BYU.

Richardson told ESPN said the man who was eventually banned from BYU athletics was recording things on his phone, and “we were just made very uncomfortable by him in particular.”

The last part of that statement is troubling as I will explain.

After the match when the autistic man approached a Duke player, Richardson and Duke suddenly recognized the handicapped man’s ‘voice’ as the same one shouting slurs. They never saw or pointed out a face, just a voice.

BYU athletics appeared to agree with Richardson’s claim of racist slurs in an official statement on Twitter indicating that they had “banned a fan who was identified by Duke during last night’s volleyball match from all BYU athletic venues.”

I note here that the innocent man was “identified” because she recognized his voice after the match. She “heard him,” but could not identify anybody by sight. When she was interviewed by ESPN a couple of days later, she said the man who was eventually banned from BYU athletics was recording things on his phone and “we were just made very uncomfortable by him in particular.” So, she did not know the man’s face after the match but somehow saw him recording her? 
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The BYU Athletic Department did its university a grave disservice by immediately announcing a fan had been banned without first investigating. 
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In announcing the fan was “banned,” the media had little reason to question the story. North Carolina media covered the allegation extensively, but we could find any evidence of major North Carolina news outlets reporting the significant evidence that refutes the allegations. Their readers and viewers deserve the whole story.

The damage is considerable to the BYU students and the school. South Carolina’s NCAA Champion women’s basketball team already canceled a game at BYU this season. Some South Carolina lawmakers criticized that decision as an “ill-advised overreaction to an apparent erroneous claim.”

I doubt this was an intentional lie, a hoax. I suspect Richardson honestly believed something was said. Then the incident grew stoked by an unquestioning press and cheerleading from her family, leading to a severe case of confirmation bias.

An interview with USA Today gives some clues to Richardson’s mindset:

“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.”

The problem is the demand for “amoral racist acts” far outpaces the actual supply.

North Carolina media should report doubt about the incident and ask Duke what they will do about it? So far, WRAL has run eight stories, about the same for the News and Observer. At the time of publishing, neither outlet has run an update calling the accusations into question.

Duke needs to sit down with Richardson and talk about there being no proof of slurs being used. She could clarify that she probably didn’t hear things clearly in the heat of the game.

Duke needs to retract its statement after the incident: 

Duke Volleyball experienced targeted racism this past weekend during our match at the Smith Fieldhouse on the campus of BYU. On Friday night, immediate action was taken by our student-athletes and staff to address the horrific circumstance, which included racial slurs and threats…  

Duke can stand by its player but should acknowledge that there is no evidence these events occurred. If this does not happen soon, both Richardson and Duke will elevate this from a terrible misunderstanding to a slanderous lie.

The truth matters. Nobody should be aware of that as much as Duke University. 

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited September 10, 2022 by smac97

[smac97]

Wow.  Just saw this: Paul Zeise: BYU owed apology now that the facts of Duke volleyball 'scandal' are known

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The story of Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson is a classic rush to judgement that should — but won’t — have severe consequences for all of those who were way too willing to jump in and join an angry mob before they knew all the facts of the case. It is a tragedy only in that almost nobody that attacked BYU and its students cared enough about the facts to take a step back and be more measured in their response.

Yep.

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I am sure you heard the story but in case you didn’t, Richardson and her Duke teammates played at BYU. Richardson is one of several Black players on Duke’s team and, according to the story as told by her Godmother, Lesa Pamplin, on Twitter the next day, she was called a distinct racial slur several times when she served by someone in the crowd.

Naturally, this set off alarms in media and academia alike and all of the usual suspects came out of the woodwork to condemn BYU and start a conversation about white privilege and racism in college sports.

BYU — a predominantly white, conservative school in Utah that is affiliated with the Church of the Latter Day Saints — immediately apologized and a fan that was thrown out of the arena that night was banned because the backlash was immediate and harsh. The school administrators had no facts and hadn’t done an investigation, but they understood how sensitive these issues are these days and got out ahead of some of the criticisms by issuing an initial statement and promising to investigate.

Yep.

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Richardson was then held up as some sort of hero and hailed for her courage. She even went on ESPN and did an interview with Holly Rowe, recounting how difficult the incident was to endure and even doubled down on the fact that someone called her a “really strong racial slur” at least twice.

This sort of speaks to part of why it will be so hard for Richardson to retract her accusations.  Look at the laurels heaped on her.

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It all made for a way-too-easy “look how racist America is” tale as we had the predominantly white, religiously affiliated, affluent, conservative students ganging up on an opposing Black female athlete in an ugly and racist incident. 

Yep.  And this is the second time, in about as many weeks, BYU has been unfairly pummeled in the press (see Latest BYU Controversy: Pamphlets and Drag Shows (RaYnbow Collective)).

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It was shocking when I first heard the story, no doubt. As a Black man who has three Black children who all participated in athletics, it disgusted me and made me angry but also sad. I needed to know more before I reacted, though, and that is because as a journalist it isn’t my job to be shocked, to be an activist or to jump out with my own personal beliefs and biases. I have to gather all of the facts of the story and make sure they all add up.

That used to be the practice of all journalists, but apparently that is no longer the case — especially in situations like this one.

Yep.  Trust in the media is understandably low these days.  We've moved well beyond a "Just the Facts, Ma'am" approach to news coverage.  News and opinion have merged.  It's all about the narrative, about media pundits picking and choosing winning and losing sides.  It's about celebrity and money.  

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After just a little bit of investigating, I grew suspicious of the story and began to think it was most likely just that — a story. It didn’t matter what the facts were, though, as a faction of media and academia had already blown it up into another discussion about white privilege and racism in America. Once the ball got rolling down that hill, there was no stopping it. There is still no stopping it, even though the incident has been thoroughly investigated by BYU, local police and anyone else that actually cared about getting to the bottom of it.

Yep.  BYU's reputation has taken a real drubbing.

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BYU issued its statement Friday morning. Here are the key paragraphs:

“As part of our commitment to take any claims of racism seriously, BYU has completed its investigation into the allegation that racial heckling and slurs took place at the Duke vs. BYU women’s volleyball match on August 26. We reviewed all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles taken by BYUtv of the match, with broadcasting audio removed (to ensure that the noise from the stands could be heard more clearly). We also reached out to more than 50 individuals who attended the event: Duke athletic department personnel and student-athletes, BYU athletic department personnel and student-athletes, event security and management and fans who were in the arena that evening, including many of the fans in the on-court student section.

From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event. As we stated earlier, we would not tolerate any conduct that would make a student-athlete feel unsafe. That is the reason for our immediate response and our thorough investigation.”

The school also lifted the ban from the fan who was alleged to be involved in this because an investigation showed he wasn’t thrown out for using racial slurs and didn’t use racial slurs. Surely, if someone used slurs multiple times, in a crowd full of people with multiple cameras and videos and security guards around, somebody would have heard it, right? 

But again, there isn’t a single person who was in that arena full to the brim of thousands of fans, athletes, administrators, coaches, police, security guards, officials, vendors and statisticians who could corroborate the story.

Not one. Not a single one.

He's taking the same tack I have been.

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Those are facts — fully vetted and investigated facts. Every single media member and media outlet that attacked BYU owes the school an apology. If I were BYU, I would collect all of the receipts and hire a lawyer who specializes in defamation cases. BYU deserves a lot of credit for how they handled this whole mess and for taking their time and doing a thorough investigation to get to the truth.

BYU will not sue for defamation.  It is litigious in some ways, but not about stuff like this.

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Dawn Staley, South Carolina’s incredible women’s basketball coach, also got caught up in this and canceled a home-and-home series with BYU because of this incident. She was also hailed as some sort of courageous leader for doing that, even though cancelling a home-and-home with BYU benefits her program because that was a “nothing to gain, everything to lose” kind of series for her team. I mean, going to Provo, Utah, is not something that the No. 1 women’s program in the country needs or wants to do.

Staley should also apologize to BYU for rushing to judgement and should reinstate the series. That would be courageous. That would be an act of a role model, and that would be the right thing to do.

Agreed.

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Duke should also apologize to BYU for some of the harsh statements it made in the aftermath of it all, but it instead seems to be to double down on the hoax.
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Duke athletic director Nina King could have been a leader by praising BYU for the investigation and expressing disappointment in the way the school was portrayed. Instead, she issued a nonsensical, meaningless statement about how Duke stands by its athletes and their integrity. The irony of this is that Duke was once caught up in one of the greatest examples of one of these kinds of hoaxes history with its lacrosse scandal.

Yeah, Duke is not looking very good in all this.

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And the number of media outlets — CNN, MSNBC, ESPN, just about every major newspaper, USA Today and everyone else who raked BYU over the coals before the actual facts of this incident came out — should get involved, too.

I won't hold my breath.

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That whole story was built on a simple fictional story that grew a life of its own and ended up costing a district attorney his career and Duke millions in settlements while chipping away at the credibility of rape and racism claims on campuses.

Yes.  This.  

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Much like the Duke lacrosse scandal, this Richardson volleyball story was fishy to begin with given the age we live in, the proliferation of cameras and the fact that there were many Black students sitting in the section. But now we know the facts of the case just don’t add up to the story we were being told by Pamplin and then Richardson.

But once you dig into her background a little bit, you have a greater understanding of why.

Pamplin is a Democrat running for judge in her local district in Texas, and I am sure this kind of “I’m a champion of punishing racists” type stuff plays well to her constituents. She was the one who brought the issue up on Twitter,  the one who pushed the story through other social media outlets and, of course, it gave her all kinds of free publicity.

A quick examination of her own tweets though, make it pretty clear that she has a very specific agenda in these matters and is every bit as divisive as anyone she is accusing. Interestingly enough, when this story started to fall apart, Pamplin quickly made all of her social media accounts private.

In short, she told an explosive tale and then ran and hid when it became clear it had real holes in it. The right thing for her to do would be to withdrawal from her political campaign and also issue an apology to BYU.  That would be courageous.

Not going to hold my breath waiting for Pamplin to do the right thing, either.

I sure hope this ruins her election chances, though.  Someone who says the terrible things she has said (about a lot more than just BYU) should not be a judge.

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I keep hearing that we need to start having honest conversations about race relations in this country, and I would absolutely agree. The key word in that, though, has to be honest, and far too often in recent years, these conversations haven’t been held with critical thinking and honesty as the goal. There is a lot of progress that has been made in this country in this regard, but clearly a lot of progress still to go as there isn’t a single Black person in America who hasn’t experienced some form of racism and multiple times over. 

I think this is a very important point.

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I care deeply about this issue and I also fear greatly that it has been bastardized and turned into something easily dismissed because of incidents like this one. These kinds of false allegations undermines the credibility of all of the work that people are trying to do to improve race relations in the country. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of examples of racism that take place throughout the country, so I am not sure why we need to continue to make these false accusations. 

I think the "moral panic" angle might provide some clarity.  We have a serious problem with child abuse, but false accusations don't help in alleviating that issue.  Same goes with race hoaxes.

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It is easy to react emotionally and immediately on a story like this —and in some ways because of some of the history at a place like BYU - but facts have to be at the center of any reaction if you want to be taken seriously. The facts in this case all more than suggest, the story was bogus and without any merit at all.

All this kind of thing does is distract and divide and quite frankly also shows that many media outlets seemingly don’t care about the facts. When the story first hit, the immediate reaction should have been “there is an allegation, let’s vet it and let’s investigate it before we react to it.” That wasn’t and as a result there are a whole lot of people who have egg on their face and look silly because they jumped on a bandwagon based on a fictional tale.  

Painful, but true.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

A comprehensive timeline of this story from the Tribune: https://www.sltrib.com/sports/byu-cougars/2022/09/09/timeline-byu-duke-volleyball/

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Friday, Aug. 26

• The BYU women’s volleyball team hosts Duke University at 7 p.m. MT, at Smith Fieldhouse. BYU reports 5,507 fans in attendance — a school record for women’s volleyball.

• In the second set, the Duke team is situated on the end of the court in front of the BYU student section, known as the “Roar of Cougars,” or ROC. With BYU leading 6-3, it is Richardson’s turn to serve. She will later recount to ESPN’s Holly Rowe that what began as garden-variety heckling became something else in that moment: “Very distinctly I heard a very strong and negative racial slur.”

• Once the set is over and the teams begin to trade sides of the court, Richardson says she approaches a teammate she is close with and tells her that a fan yelled the N-word at her. The teammate suggests they immediately tell the coaching staff.

• Duke’s coaching staff informs the game officials of what has transpired, and the game officials inform BYU staffers present at the match. A BYU police officer, who was assigned to work the match, will later write in an official report (obtained by The Tribune via a public records request): “During the third set of the match, I was advised by [redacted] with Athletics that a racial comment was made to the Duke Volleyball players. I was told the racial comment came from the BYU ROC students who were standing behind the Duke Players.”

• The officer says he made his way to the student section to speak with the “ROC president.” He advises her that the Duke players have complained of racial slurs being used, and asks for her assistance in identifying the culprit. The ROC president says she has not personally heard any abusive language, but promises to place people she trusts throughout the ROC to listen for comments.

• The officer then takes up position near the Duke bench. Duke players in the match are now on the opposite side of the court from the ROC. Richardson serves three times in the third set.

• The officer writes that in the break between the third and fourth sets, he is approached by a fan who inquires about his presence near the Duke bench and asks if anything is wrong. The officer repeats the complaint about the racial slurs. The fan, who says he has four friends on the BYU team, says he has not heard any abusive language, and keeps engaging the officer in conversation.

• Richardson later tells Rowe that, in the fourth set, with Duke’s players once again near the ROC, “it was almost as if the atmosphere of the student section had changed” to become collectively aggressive. “Even my Black teammates on the bench who don’t play, they were being called out and pointed at. It was really confusing as to why.”

• Richardson serves twice more in the fourth set. The officer writes that he observes some students yelling out first names of Duke players, “trying to distract the Duke players.” He writes that he only personally hears the names “Lizzy” and “Christina” being yelled out as players served. He subsequently notes that “Lizzy” [senior middle blocker Lizzie Fleming] “is a Caucasian player” while “Christina [Barrow] is an African American player.” He notes that he has not heard any abusive comments, nothing of a sexual or racist nature.

• After the match ends in a 3-1 BYU victory, the officer leaves the court and heads back to the referees’ locker room, asking if they require any assistance or need an escort out of the arena. After a time, he is told they do not require anything from him. The officer notes that when he returns to the court, a Duke assistant coach approaches him and says that while the officer was away after the match, a fan “got in the face” of Richardson, and she felt uncomfortable. Richardson’s godmother, Lesa Pamplin, alleges in her Twitter post the next day that Richardson “was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back.”

• The Duke assistant coach points out the person in question, whom the officer recognizes as the fan he conversed with during the game. The officer and an unnamed BYU official approach the fan and tell him he was accused of using “the ‘N’ word” toward Duke players. The fan, who is a Utah Valley University student, denies using racist language, saying the only thing he said to Duke players was to stop hitting the ball into the net. He acknowledged approaching Richardson, but said it was only because he mistook her for one of his friends from the BYU team. The officer takes the student’s information and escorts him off the campus, advising him not to attend Duke’s match slated for the next day, and suggesting that if he plans to attend BYU’s next match, not to sit in the student section. The fan agrees.

• The officer returns to Smith Fieldhouse and converses with some BYU volleyball coaches and staffers. They inform him their Duke counterparts are upset with him for taking no action during the fourth set, when they allege their Black athletes were being targeted for abuse. He reiterates that he heard no racial language during that time. The officer then asks a BYU assistant coach to provide him with some game footage. Together, they watch the film during the instances in the second set when Richardson says the slur was yelled at her. During the first serve, the fan in question is not present at his spot near the Duke bench; during her second serve, the fan “was on his phone and didn’t appear to be paying attention to the game.” The officer adds, “There was nothing seen on the game film that led me to believe [redacted] was the person who was making comments to the player who complained about being called the ‘N’ word.”

• BYU officials nevertheless decide to ban the fan from attending BYU events indefinitely while further investigation is carried out. The officer calls the fan to inform him; the fan says he understands, but reiterates his innocence.

• The Duke team, worried about the atmosphere at BYU, holds a discussion about whether to play in the next day’s game at Smith Fieldhouse against Rider. The officer writes that Bernard Muir, the Stanford University athletic director who was in attendance to watch his daughter Millie play for Duke, advocates for the Blue Devils to play. (The Muirs are Black, though the officer notes he was unable to ask Millie Muir if she heard any racist comments.)

Saturday, Aug. 27

• Richardson’s godmother, Pamplin, brings the situation to the attention of the masses when she tweets that Richardson “was called a n— every time she served.” (Richardson served eight times in all during the match, according to the official play-by-play.) The veracity of Pamplin’s claim is immediately questioned by some, who dig up prior questionable posts from her social media (now made private) in a bid to discredit her, and reference her candidacy for Tarant County (Texas) Criminal Court 5 Judge as a possible motive to present a fictional controversy.

• The decision is made to move the Duke-Rider game off-campus. Duke athletic director Nina King issues a statement: “First and foremost, our priority is the well-being of Duke student-athletes. They should always have the opportunity to compete in an inclusive, anti-racist environment which promotes equality and fair play. Following extremely unfortunate circumstances at Friday night’s match at BYU, we are compelled to shift today’s match against Rider to a different location to afford both teams the safest atmosphere for competition.”

• Richardson meets with BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe to discuss the incident. Her father Marvin Richardson expresses frustration to The Salt Lake Tribune that BYU did not act swiftly enough in his view to identify and remove the offender.

• BYU announces that it “has banned a fan who was identified by Duke during Friday night’s volleyball match from all BYU athletic venues.” In a statement, BYU says it “spent hours reviewing video of the event, speaking with our event management and security staffs to try and figure out what exactly occurred and how it might’ve happened. This behavior cannot be acceptable.”

• Duke wins its match vs. Rider, and BYU wins its match vs. Washington State. Holmoe addresses the Smith Fieldhouse crowd before the Cougars’ match, noting that there were “egregious and hurtful slurs” directed at the Duke team. “… We fell short. We didn’t live up to our best.” Duke team. “… We fell short. We didn’t live up to our best.”

Sunday, Aug. 28

• Rachel Richardson, having flown back to Durham, N.C., tweets out a statement, saying that during Friday’s match at BYU, “my fellow African American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match. The slurs and comments grew into threats which caused us to feel unsafe.” She also blasts BYU for failing to act in a timely manner upon being made aware of the incident.

• BYU volleyball coach Heather Olmstead puts out a public statement saying that she has had “productive conversations” with Richardson, as well as Duke’s team captain and head coach. “They have helped me understand areas where we can do better.” Holmoe adds a defense of his coach regarding the criticism of Olmstead not taking part in the Saturday morning meeting, saying, “I was the one who made the decision to represent BYU.”

Monday, Aug. 29

• Holmoe gives an interview on CNN to discuss the incident, noting that one fan has been banned and that the university is working to discover if there were other perpetrators. He said the university has been extensively reviewing footage from the BYUtv broadcast, and asked for any fans who took video from the Friday game to share it, or for anyone with knowledge of the incident to come forward. Holmoe adds that, in addition to the officer, BYU deployed four ushers into the stands in an effort to locate the offender, but they were unsuccessful.

• BYU Police file a report noting that at 6:31 p.m. on Sunday, “a threatening voicemail was left on a BYU Athletic coach’s voice mail.” The report does not specify which coach or the nature of the threat.

Tuesday, Aug. 30

• An interview between Holly Rowe and Rachel Richardson is broadcast on ESPN. Richardson says as the match went on, “the racial slurs and heckling, it just grew more extreme, more intense.” She adds that she “very much felt heard and seen” by Holmoe in their meeting, and that he was genuinely hurt and shocked by the incident.

• BYU police announce that, after an initial investigation, it is their belief that the fan who was banned was not the one to yell racial slurs at Richardson. BYU Police Lt. George Besendorfer added that his department was no longer reviewing footage from the match, and further review has been taken over by BYU athletics and the school’s communication administration. Associate Athletic Director Jon McBride issued a statement noting that, “Various BYU Athletics employees have been reviewing video from BYUtv and other cameras in the facility that the volleyball team has access to for film review.” The investigation is ongoing.

Thursday, Sept. 1

• BYU volleyball hosts Utah State at the Smith Fieldhouse. BYU officials have begun to implement some changes: The Aggies receive a security escort as they enter the venue, and the student section has been pulled off the floor and placed into the upper deck seating above the court.

Friday, Sept. 2

• South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley announces that her program is canceling a home-and-home series scheduled with BYU as a result of the allegations of racism. “As a head coach, my job is to do what’s best for my players and staff,” Staley says in a statement. “The incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home-and-home, and I don’t feel that this is the right time for us to engage in this series.”

South Carolina was set to host the Cougars this November, and to visit Provo during the 2023-24 season. There are currently no plans to reschedule the series.

Friday, Sept. 9

• BYU issues a statement, announcing it has concluded its investigation into the incident. The university says it: “reviewed all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles taken by BYUtv of the match, with broadcasting audio removed (to ensure that the noise from the stands could be heard more clearly).” Officials also reached out to more than 50 people who attended the event, BYU says, including “Duke athletic department personnel and student-athletes, BYU athletic department personnel and student-athletes, event security and management and fans who were in the arena that evening, including many of the fans in the on-court student section.”

BYU says it cannot corroborate the claims of racism at the match and will reinstate the fan who had been banned. “Despite being unable to find supporting evidence of racial slurs in the many recordings and interviews, we hope that all those involved will understand our sincere efforts to ensure that all student-athletes competing at BYU feel safe,” the statement added.

• Duke issues its own statement in support of Richardson.

“The 18 members of the Duke University volleyball team are exceptionally strong women who represent themselves, their families, and Duke University with the utmost integrity,” Duke athletic director Nina King said. “We unequivocally stand with and champion them, especially when their character is called into question. Duke Athletics believes in respect, equality and inclusiveness, and we do not tolerate hate and bias.”

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited September 10, 2022 by smac97

[rodheadlee]

Reminds me of the time Ram QB,Jim Everett went down and he wasn't even touched by a 49er. He just had been sacked too many times and he heard footsteps. Could be the same thing. 

[smac97]

Deseret News: Perspective: The BYU-Duke volleyball story became a national Rorschach test

Quote

It’s been nearly two weeks since the BYU-Duke volleyball match and the subsequent allegation of racial taunting and slurs against a Duke player.

And yet, today, there are still more questions than answers about what took place.

There is no moral ambiguity about what has been alleged. The language we’re talking about is abhorrent to sensible Americans.

But, two weeks in to this story, we still don’t have evidence beyond the player’s own testimony.

This was published on 9/6.

Quote

It’s worth asking whether the truth may be somewhere in the middle. You can have enormous respect for Rachel Richardson as a player and as a person, and believe she is telling the truth about what she believes she heard, and yet wonder if the truth is still out there, unaccounted for.

In a three-part video on Twitter, Batchlor Johnson IV talked about his experience with racism while playing football in Utah. He said he’d heard racial slurs uttered against fellow players and had also been the subject of racial profiling by police. But Johnson said he can also accept that what Richardson believes happens may not have been exactly what occurred. He said the story has pulled observers into the extremes — deniers of racism, on the one hand, and those who want to see racism where there isn’t any, on the other.

“It breaks my heart,” he said, when cases like Smollett’s arise because “racist people will use this as ammo to diminish the Black experience and the Black struggle.”

Yep.  This is legitimate concern.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

https://www.outkick.com/usa-today-writer-duke-volleyball-player-right-wing-conspiracy-theory/

Quote

One USA Today writer conclusively had no argument in a recent opinion piece, considering how hard he tried to combine multiple types of name calling.

The desperation to defend the rapidly disintegrating story of Rachel Richardson has led to far left virtue signalers cancelling events with BYU and other teams pledging their allegiance to the entirely unsubstantiated allegations.

But that’s not far enough for Mike Freeman, who, in classic activist fashion, compared questioning Robinson’s story to a ”Right-wing conspiracy theory” and QAnon.

A rather ironic comparison, given that Richardson's story is, like the QAnon absurdity, A) devoid of evidence, B) reliant on a secret conspiracy (especially now that BYU has announced its findings), and C) plays into a "moral panic."

Quote

Freeman claimed he would “break down the absurdity of it all,” but his first example of why to believe her is possibly the most absurd thing you’ll read all day.

According to him, one of the main reasons why she couldn’t be wrong about what she heard is that she called her father in tears after the match.

The interview with her father, on CNN naturally, says that the call with Rachel wasn’t normal:

“After the game, she called,” he said, “and this was a different call.”

This is supposedly part of the “proof” that it happened.

But if she thought she heard racist slurs at the game that never actually happened, of course she would be upset and in tears. It’s certainly possible that she thought she heard something during the game. And it’s also possible that she made it up. There’s simply no evidence that the incident occurred exactly as she described.

Freeman continues with a list explaining why it’s just impossible to believe she’d make it up. It is not a good list:

“1. Say, just for argument’s sake, that Rachel Richardson made up this story. You have to believe that she did knowing she was putting not just her volleyball future at risk but her college future as a student at Duke. She’d be forever tarnished as a liar. One of the worst liars.

2. You have to believe she then lied to her dad. Which is possible. Kids lie to their parents, but about this? But also…

3. You’d have to believe she would then let her father go on CNN and repeat that lie.”

Except, of course, that Richardson would absolutely not putting her future at risk by making up a story alleging racism.

Is Bubba Wallace banned from NASCAR? Obviously these are slightly different situations, but outside of Jussie Smollett, who actually planned a fake hate crime, what consequences have there ever been for incorrect allegations?

It’s also obvious that if she did make it up, she’d have to lie to her parents. One lie begets another, especially if the story isn’t immediately retracted.

Freeman also completely ignores that one of the underlying motivations for making up a story, if it was in fact made up, would be to get national media attention.

She absolutely would let friends or family go on national television and tell the story, because that’s the whole point.

The allure of celebrity/notoriety can be strong.

Quote

It gets worse.

After his absurd “defense” of her story, he claims that the fact that no one heard any racial slurs yelled at Richardson doesn’t matter:

“What the conspiracy theories essentially all come down to is one thing: no one heard Richardson being called the slur. The belief, suddenly, is that microphones pick up every word in the arena or student section. Or that cameras are all-seeing and knowing, like mini one-eyed gods.”

But Freeman ignores that it’s not simply microphones or cameras, there hasn’t been a single eyewitness that’s come forward from the event to corroborate her story. Not one.

The police have confirmed they didn’t hear anything. Local newspapers have conducted independent investigations asking countless attendees if they heard anything. No one did.

Not to mention that if someone was yelling racist words at a young black woman every time she served, as the story goes, how would there not be a single person in an arena of thousands willing to pull out their phone and record a 10-second video?

It strains credulity past the breaking point to believe that it happened as she claims without a single person coming forward to confirm it on the record or with a recording.

...

Finally, he gets to the heart of his own incompetence, by suggesting that it’s a conspiracy theory to believe she lied because she’s lied to so many people:

“So at this point, according to the conspiracy theorists, she’s lied to her teammates. Her coaches. The BYU coaches. The BYU athletic director. The police. Her godmother. Her father. The world because of her statement. ESPN. Then allowed her father to lie to a CNN audience. What’s more likely? All of that? Or that she’s telling the truth?”

He poses an interesting question.  It just happens to contravene the evidence.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

Oh, brother: https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2022/09/09/media-falls-silent-as-investigation-shows-no-evidence-n-word-was-yelled-during-duke-volleyball-game/

Quote

It is clear that these “news” outlets were excited to give the 19-year-old Rachel Richardson all the airtime she needed to attack BYU and its fans as racists, but after the story fell apart, it was radio silence.

Well, no.  There has been plenty of news coverage today.  "Radio silence" is not at all accurate.  Stephen Smith, for example, has updated his position publicly.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

What now? Black pastor and ex-BYU player Derwin Gray’s deep thoughts on racism

Quote

On Friday morning, BYU announced its investigation found nothing to corroborate Duke player Rachel Richardson’s statement that a fan or fans yelled racist slurs at her during a BYU-Duke volleyball match.

Those findings, after extensive video and audio review and interviews with fans and other eyewitnesses at the game, raised the question about what to do with Richardson’s statement that she heard the slurs.

The Rev. Dr. Derwin Gray had deep answers Friday afternoon after he spoke to BYU students, faculty and staff in the Wilkinson Student Center. The Black South Carolina pastor and former BYU and NFL football player has been meeting all week with Cougar athletes and campus religion faculty to talk about race.

BYU’s statement that it lacked evidence to corroborate Richardson’s statement included no evidence that Richardson perpetrated a hoax, and Gray urged people to continue to listen to her.

“You always believe the testimony of a person,” Gray told the Deseret News. “So I think Miss Richardson shared what she believes she heard, and I think (Tom) Holmoe and the athletic department responded properly with (putting) policemen in that area.”

Holmoe, BYU’s athletic director, did not attend the volleyball match in question, but his assistants immediately responded to Richardson’s complaint during the match by moving a policeman from behind the Duke bench to the student fan section where Richardson said she heard the slur. They also moved four additional ushers into the area.

Holmoe apologized to Richardson personally on Aug. 27, the day after the BYU-Duke match, and told the BYU sports community that night at the next Cougar volleyball game that everyone needs to do better at rooting out racism.

“Just because it wasn’t caught on audio or video doesn’t mean that’s not what she heard,” Gray said. “I think Miss Richardson’s statement was she did not believe the (slur) was reflective of the school. I think in a time like ours, it was handled as best that she could handle it.”

Gray also responded to the decision by South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley to cancel a home-and-home series with BYU. She said she didn’t want to subject her players to the possibility of racism.

Gray questioned her decision to separate South Carolina and BYU instead of finding a way to build a constructive opportunity.

“Obviously, Coach Staley’s a phenomenal coach,” Gray said. “I don’t know what her thought process was, but if we did a deep dive into racial epithets, nobody would be playing anybody. I think the way you deal with these issues is, why not come to BYU and do something in solidarity together, talking about the importance of love and unity. I can’t change you if I’m far away from you.”

Gray’s comments about Richardson came shortly after he shared two deeply personal experiences about trauma responses among Black Americans.

“Please understand this, our white brothers and sisters,” he said. “When Black people see police brutality, and their response is that fast, you’re looking at generational trauma. You’re not looking at just one moment, you’re looking at historical trauma.”

The whole article is worth a read.

Quote

He said being a person of color is regularly exhausting.

“There’s never a moment that I don’t know that I’m a Black man in United States of America,” Gray said. “If I dress a certain way, I’m treated a certain way. And that’s just the reality of a fallen world. But the way I move into that world has to be by God’s grace because this isn’t the end yet. This isn’t the finished story. Jesus is going to write a new story, but until that time, it’s really important that we have people around us to love us who are courteous.

“That’s where we need our white brothers and sisters to go, ‘I see you. I see your pain, and I’m with you.’”

On Saturday, Gray will light the Y on Y Mountain before the football game between No. 9 Baylor and No. 21 BYU. He will also lead the Cougars onto the field carrying the Y flag.

Cool.

Thanks,

-Smac

[teddyaware]

This just in: Another purported anti-progressive outrage that was immediately blamed on White Supremacists, without even a shred of evidence by the woke corporate media, turns out to be another in an ever growing list of disturbing hoaxes.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2022/09/09/white-supremacist-vandalism-atlanta-rainbow-crosswalk-swastikas-n2612642?utm_campaign=rightrailsticky2

Edited September 10, 2022 by teddyaware

[jkwilliams]

5 minutes ago, teddyaware said:

This just in: Another purported race outrage that was immediately blamed on White Supremacists, without even a shred of evidence, by the woke corporate media turns out to be another in an ever growing list of disturbing race hoaxes.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2022/09/09/white-supremacist-vandalism-atlanta-rainbow-crosswalk-swastikas-n2612642?utm_campaign=rightrailsticky2

Hmmm. Anti-gay hate is not less hateful because the perpetrator is black. 

[Rivers]

11 hours ago, gopher said:

Actual racism certainly exists, even from some volleyball fans.  Just not from the BYU fans at the Duke match.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/it-s-pure-unadulterated-racism-says-mother-after-black-student-athletes-heckled-with-monkey-noises-during-volleyball-game/ar-AA11BRUZ

Racism, like Covid, will always be with us.  But the need for racism is outpacing the supply.

[Judd]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

Stephen Smith, for example, has updated his position publicly.

 

Is there a link to this?

[bsjkki]

13 minutes ago, Judd said:

Is there a link to this?

 

[Thinking]

On 9/6/2022 at 3:26 PM, smac97 said:

It seems that so far there is no evidence, apart from the Duke player's accusation, that anyone shouted thee N-word.

As has been posted many times on this board, "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

On 9/6/2022 at 3:26 PM, smac97 said:

Has anyone listened to the audio?  Seems like the slur would have been picked up if the player was able to hear it.

...

The entire game was recorded, yet nobody has been able to detect any racial slurs in the recordings.

Where are the microphones? I'm guessing they are pointed at the court.

I saw BYU's response on the news tonight. Perhaps it should have been something like this, "We are sorry that Rachel Richardson was the target of racial insults directed at her during the volleyball match. Unfortunately, we have not been able to identify the fan who was responsible. We will continue to investigate this matter and hope that Rachel accepts our apology. We are committed to making the Smith Fieldhouse and all other venues safe places for our guests to come and play. There will be more security close to the court/field so this doesn't happen again."

For those who think this can't happen at BYU, just a few years ago, a BYU fan held up this sign.

[Thinking]

Duplicate post.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Thinking

[Thinking]

Duplicate post.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Thinking

[Thinking]

Duplicate post.

Each time I clicked submit, I received a message that said I had to wait 3 seconds. After the 4th time I exited the response window (the one that still had the submit button highlighted) and realized that it posted 4 times.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Thinking

[Calm]

http://newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com/2008/08/back-to-reservation-for-u.html?m=1
 

“Fortunately, the university reacted appropriately: denouncing the sign, banning the student from using it again, and apologizing to those who were offended. That's good. Every time we protest an incident such as this, people learn a lesson. Next time they'll be less likely to do something similar when the opportunity arises.”

[Calm]

16 minutes ago, Thinking said:

Duplicate post.

Each time I clicked submit, I received a message that said I had to wait 3 seconds. After the 4th time I exited the response window (the one that still had the submit button highlighted) and realized that it posted 4 times.

Yeah, when I hit submit, but it doesn’t appear to have been saved, I open another tab to check if it actually has been…and it always is unless the thread has been locked during the time I have been writing a reply. This happens occasionally when I first report and then write a too long reply and it just so happens a mod was available to respond or happened to be responding to someone else’s report. I get ticked off at myself for not waiting till afterwards to report because it is always the most profound posts that get blocked that way.  

[Calm]

1 hour ago, Thinking said:

 

I am not debating the reality of the photo, this is a curiosity question, but does anyone else think it looks more like an illustration than a photo?  If so, anyone know why?  Apparently they got it direct from the photographer. Is there a technique that makes it look that way or was it likely just poor quality tech (just passing time till I either wake up enough to do some work or get sleepy).

On a side note, I don’t understand the distinction between dumping somewhat Native American mascots (I say somewhat because so many are caricatures), but keeping the name, even if the Ute Tribe benefits through educational support of tribal members as well as many opportunities to teach others about their heritage and appropriate ways to engage with Native American culture (hint: don’t rip off their sacred regalia for entertainment).

Edited September 10, 2022 by Calm

[JustAnAustralian]

21 minutes ago, Calm said:

Is there a technique that makes it look that way or was it likely just poor quality tech

It looks like a photo of a printed photo.

[CA Steve]

It's not like this is the first time Duke has bought into false accusations.

Duke lacrosse case.

 

Edited September 10, 2022 by CA Steve

[gopher]

I read somewhere that Duke is also conducting their own investigation, but haven't responded to requests for comments yet.  It'll be interesting to see how it compares to the BYU report.  Duke is getting scorched as a result of this story, even by those who aren't fans of BYU.  Unfortunately for the player, her name will now be included in every discussion of false claims of racism.

Also, BYU should take note of this story of a college that has to pay out $36.59 million for false accusation of racism.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/us/oberlin-college-bakery-lawsuit-payment-reaj/index.html

I'm glad BYU finally apologized to the wrongly accused fan.  Now Duke, the player, her family, sports journalists/commentators, and multiple news outlets need to do the same.

[JarMan]

6 hours ago, gopher said:

I read somewhere that Duke is also conducting their own investigation, but haven't responded to requests for comments yet.  It'll be interesting to see how it compares to the BYU report.  Duke is getting scorched as a result of this story, even by those who aren't fans of BYU.  Unfortunately for the player, her name will now be included in every discussion of false claims of racism.

Also, BYU should take note of this story of a college that has to pay out $36.59 million for false accusation of racism.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/us/oberlin-college-bakery-lawsuit-payment-reaj/index.html

I'm glad BYU finally apologized to the wrongly accused fan.  Now Duke, the player, her family, sports journalists/commentators, and multiple news outlets need to do the same.

It’s hard to quantify the amount of damage done to BYU from this incident. But if a bakery suffered 36 million dollars in damage, then the damage to BYU is probably orders of magnitude higher. 

[smac97]

Update from Lesa Pamplin (Richardson's godmother) :

Quote

Lesa Pamplin, Richardson’s godmother who initially drew attention to the alleged slur by tweeting about it, said in an emailed statement that she does not accept BYU’s findings.

“BYU’s statement today does not change my position. In fact, the statement and the ‘findings’ are in keeping with what I — and many others — anticipated,” Pamplin said. “Daily across America, the burden of proof — in instances like these involving people of color, as well as marginalized people, economically disadvantaged people, and disempowered people — is shifted unfairly and without hesitation.”

Um, not sure what to make of this.  The initial "burden of proof" is typically on the party making the accusation of misconduct (that is, Richardson).  Her accusation, though unadorned and uncorroborated, was nevertheless taken at face value by BYU, which thereafter essentially accepted the "shift" in the "burden" to it.  It then conducted what seems like a pretty extensive review of the matter, and then published the results. 

The "burden" now would seem to shift back to Richardson.  Pamplin's characterization here is inaccurate, in that this second shift is not "unfair" (BYU has explained its efforts/findings), nor is it "without hesitation (BYU took a week or so to investigate before publishing its position, and even then it did not find fault with Richardson or impugn her character).

On this blog (founded by a law professor at Cornell, William A. Jacobson, but this post is by someone going by "Fuzzy Slippers"), BYU is criticized:

Quote

BYU continues:

As a result of our investigation, we have lifted the ban on the fan who was identified as having uttered racial slurs during the match. We have not found any evidence that that individual engaged in such an activity. BYU sincerely apologizes to that fan for any hardship the ban has caused.

They could have, and should have, stopped there, but they carry on for a few paragraphs of cringe-worthy racist/anti-racist struggle session nonsense. Here’s just a bit of it:

Our fight is against racism, not against any individual or any institution. Each person impacted has strong feelings and experiences, which we honor, and we encourage others to show similar civility and respect. We remain committed to rooting out racism wherever it is found. We hope we can all join together in that important fight.

There will be some who assume we are being selective in our review. To the contrary, we have tried to be as thorough as possible in our investigation, and we renew our invitation for anyone with evidence contrary to our findings to come forward and share it.

I’ll be so happy when this crazy “we hate racism and will root it out wherever we find it, even if we don’t actually find it. And stuff” nonsense comes to an end. It’s ludicrous and debasing (the latter being the point, of course).

Everyone except actual racists dislikes racism and rejects its adherents. Being forced or pressured to constantly state that is submission to a wrong-headed ideology that literally states that every white person is racist, subconsciously or otherwise, and if you don’t think you’re racist, that’s evidence you are. So it’s ridiculous to keep bleating about how much you are opposed to racism when saying it just proves you’re racist. Enough with this lunacy.

Ironically, "Fuzzy Slippers" criticizes BYU for its supposed "struggle session nonsense" ("Our fight is against racism ... We remain committed to rooting out racism wherever it is found"), but then proceeds to say essentially do the same thing ("Everyone except actual racists dislikes racism and rejects its adherents...").

Just saw this also:

Quote

I fully believe Rachel Richardson. And I fully believe @BYU.

Life is complicated like that sometimes. Historians deal with this all the time — multiple reliable sources that reveal apparently contradictory things.

What’s uncomplicated is the ongoing need to root out racism. https://t.co/FgQ16NlA0R

— Patrick Mason (@patrickqmason) September 9, 2022

I wonder why Patrick Mason "fully believe{s}" Rachel Richardson, even after BYU published its investigative findings.

This article criticizes Dawn Staley (the women's b-ball coach who cancelled a game with BYU based on Richardson's accusations) :

Quote

“The incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home-and-home, and I don’t feel that this is the right time for us to engage in this series,” Staley (above) said in a statement issued with the support of South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner.

Again … incident?

Not alleged incident?

By the time Adams published her “article” affirmatively branding BYU fans as racist, serious questions were already being raised about the allegations.
...

On Friday, BYU issued a statement announcing it had reviewed “all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles taken by BYUtv of the match, with broadcasting audio removed (to ensure that the noise from the stands could be heard more clearly).”

During the course of its investigation, BYU also “reached out to more than 50 individuals who attended the event: Duke athletic department personnel and student-athletes, BYU athletic department personnel and student-athletes, event security and management and fans who were in the arena that evening, including many of the fans in the on-court student section.”

“From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event,” the school concluded.

Despite these findings, the woke mob doubled down on its cancellation campaign against the school.

“I continue to stand by my position,” Staley said in a statement issued by South Carolina’s athletics department. “After my personal research, I made a decision for the well-being of my team.”

Hold up … personal research?

Is that all we need these days to call people racist without evidence?

Sheesh. Staley may “identify” as an arbiter of fact, but in this instance there are no facts supporting her contention.

I still wonder what "personal research" Staley did.

Quote

Duke shouldn’t tolerate hate and bias. No one should.

But before we brand an entire university as racist and start (literally) canceling opportunities for its student-athletes, shouldn’t we at the very least determine whether the alleged hate and bias actually occurred? As opposed to just being the figment of someone’s imagination?

Racism is real. And real racism must be rooted out and exposed for what it is. But those who fight for universal justice do an injustice to everyone when they rush to judgment on the basis of false claims.

Meanwhile, the failure of those who fall for these falsehood to hold themselves accountable when the truth is revealed represents a growing cancer on the public discourse.

Should Richardson hold herself "accountable?"  Should Duke hold her accountable?

I think so.

Thanks,

-Smac