White Referee, With Previous Allegations Of Racism, Forces Black Wrestler To Cut Dreadlocks
By Yesha Callahan ·
A New Jersey wrestling referee has once again come under fire after forcing a Black Buena, New Jersey high school student to cut off his dreads before a match. Although Andrew Johnson won his match, he wasn’t allowed to wear the usual hair coverings that wrestlers typically wear when they have long hair. It was referee Alan Maloney who gave him the ultimatum: either cut the hair or forfeit the match. But Maloney has a storied past, especially when it comes to being accused of racism. In 2016, a fellow referee, who is African-American, accused Maloney of calling him the n-word and pummeled him for it. Although Maloney denied it, other witnesses corroborated Preston Hamilton’s story. Many people called for Maloney to step down from his referee position as well as being fired, but neither of those happened. And here we are, two years later, it seems as though Maloney’s racism has reared its ugly head again. The dreadlock cutting incident was initially posted on Twitter by New Jersey reporter Mike Frankel, who commended Johnson for being a team player: But Frankel was quickly gathered up by those who immediately saw the act as racism and bias. Johnson, whose hair wasn’t even that long, may remember the day he won his match, but he’ll also remember it as the day he was humiliated in front of his peers solely based on his skin color.

TOPICS: