I remember when Duke students were alleged to have engaged in ugly racism. I take a wait and see perspective.
I was a regular at volleyball matches at UK as a student. Richardson’s story should be easily corroborated. She said it happened multiple times when she went to serve, even after she informed officials, to the point where she claims the man threatened her. The line judge, her teammates, someone in the crowd, should certainly be able to say whether she was correct in her perception. I don’t know how many people attended, but if the crowd was large, witnesses would be plentiful. If the crowd was small, voices travel. It seems odd to me there does not appear, from the articles I have read, that anyone can confirm the allegation. Some people are saying the man she alleged committed the awful act is autistic. Not sure if that is accurate, as that word is misused so often.
BYU police reviewed footage of the fan who was banned and determined that he did not yell any slurs when Richardson was serving. There is “footage,” as well. BYU and the Mormon history are easy targets for this kind of allegation. The footage showed the fan was not present the first time Richardson served and was on the phone the second time. “Those were the only two times she served in front of the BYU student section. A BYU student newspaper
reached out to several people in the student section, none of whom had heard any slurs.” Black members of the BYU basketball team were also in the student section. Surely there would be corroboration. Has anyone seen any?
This has become a national story, as usual, with a lot of opinion, yet there seems to be a lot of questions left unresolved. The allegation alone is like gas on a fire in today’s culture. Our country has a history of racism and a history of false racist accusations. From an investigation perspective, I am not sure how anyone can be sure it even happened. The lack of corroborating evidence is really odd.