New Jersey ref with history of racism forces high school wrestler to cut off dreadlocks

Daily Kos Staff

Friday December 21, 2018 · 10:20 AM PST

2018/12/21 · 10:20

Andrew Johnson's teammate gives support while he has his hair cut off to appease a racist asshole

Referee Alan Maloney works the amateur wrestling circuit in New Jersey. He also has an alleged history of being a piece-of-shit racist. On Wednesday night, Buena Regional High School had a wrestling meet with Oakcrest High. Buena wrestler Andrew Johnson was putting on the required head protections for participants with long hair—Johnson had dreadlocks. SNJ’s Mike Frankel decided that what happened next was great sports excitement!

Epitome of a team player Ã¢Â¬ÂÃ¯Â¸Â

A referee wouldn't allow Andrew Johnson of Buena @brhschiefs to wrestle with a cover over his dreadlocks. It was either an impromptu haircut, or a forfeit. Johnson chose the haircut, then won by sudden victory in OT to help spark Buena to a win. pic.twitter.com/f6JidKNKoI
Ã¢ÂÂ Mike Frankel (@MikeFrankelSNJ) December 20, 2018

“Epitome of a team player.”

Frankel was quickly lambasted by people online for essentially celebrating a hate crime. According to Sports Illustrated, Buena went on to win the match. Keep in mind that the sport of wrestling literally has specific head protections for this very reason. Also, even though this should not matter, please take a look at the video and note how long everybody’s fucking hair is compared with Johnson’s! There are various school systems that have attempted to employ other racist punishments for young black men and women for being themselves, including implementing hair policies that ban braids.

But there is also the specific case of referee Alan Maloney. Two years ago, the Courier Post reported that Maloney called one of his fellow referees—who is black—the N-word during an argument at a social gathering. Multiple witnesses saw Maloney calling fellow referee Preston Hamilton the racial slur. Hamilton slammed Maloney to the floor. Maloney’s defense was that he was drunk and didn’t remember saying the racial slur while pointing his finger into Hamilton’s chest. But he said everyone told him he had, so he believed it was probably true. Hamilton and Maloney were initially suspended by the New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association (NJWOA). Hamilton and Maloney appealed their suspensions. While most people were happy when the NJWOA decided to lift Hamilton’s suspension, many were disheartened when Maloney’s suspension was lifted as well.

Hamilton’s initial preference for justice would have been a one-year suspension for Maloney and no suspension for himself.

Now, he’s not so sure.

“He shouldn’t be an official at all,” Hamilton said. “You don’t have just black kids, you have mixed kids and different types of races.

Of course, Maloney was not suspended, and here we are today, watching a teenager being forced into a historically racist and profoundly humiliating practice, by a referee who should not be allowed to judge anything, let alone young people.

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