NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Following a racist act at a Rockland County high school basketball game this week, officials are offering words of support and promising action with the community on edge.
The incident occurred during a varsity game at Pearl River High School, which was hosting Nyack High School on Wednesday night. Nyack's basketball team tweeted a video of Pearl River fans making monkey noises as Black Nyack players approached the free throw line.
"Allowing monkey noises to echo through a gymnasium while an African American player shoots free throws, sanctions racism and hatred. Pearl River missed the mark to correct abhorrent behavior. Stop the Game. Remove the Offenders. Do Better!" the program tweeted.
Dr. Marco Pochintesta, superintendent of the Pearl River School District, said in a letter to parents on Thursday that he was "outraged" and that the "behavior will not be tolerated under any circumstances."
"The actions of these individuals do not in any way represent the values and expectations of our school district or our community," he added.
Nyack Superintendent Eudes Budhai described the act on Friday as "racist and reprehensible," adding that the school district and board of education "has asked the Pearl River School District for a full investigation and report, and have also asked Section 1 Athletics to review this situation with the safety and mental well-being of our athletes as a top priority. We are making counseling available to any Nyack students in need of support."
Rockland County Executive Ed Day, who condemned the act "in the strongest terms possible" in a statement issued Friday, told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond that it is not only "troubling," but also a missed opportunity, recalling an incident he witnessed firsthand as a youth coach.
"I don't know if the coaches and the reps actually heard this and understood what was going on, but we had a situation when I was coaching ... where a young African American boy [I was] coaching was subjected to the same thing," he said.
He continued: "I went out to the referee. We stopped the game. We spoke to both teams and explained to them how this was wrong, and we made it a teachable moment. But it's troublesome because I had this happen with our youth present. That's exactly the opposite message we should be sending here."
Day also stressed the need to get to the bottom of the incident.
"We don't even know if these were students first of all, but if they are identified, there needs to be some remedial action taken," he said.
Meanwhile, Day said it's important to provide messages of support, describing a "large portion" of Rockland County as "good, kind people."
"You're going to have a few who either are ignorant or hateful and what we need to do is join and band together at all times to make sure we identify the good, celebrate the positive and condemn the negative," he added.
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