Referees in New Jersey are accused of violating the state’s CROWN Act by not allowing a Black high school basketball player to compete because she had hair beads in her hair.
The alleged incident occurred on January 4 during a game between Columbia High School in Maplewood and West Caldwell’s James Caldwell High School.
According to The Gothamist, two white referees prevented an unnamed Columbia player from entering the court due to the beads in her hair.
The team’s head coach, Aaron Breitman, said that she “tried three times to tie her hair back in tighter and tighter ways to appease the referees.”
“The student in question was clearly upset. She was embarrassed, and the rest of the team was very confused,” Breitman said. “And in all honesty, it took away from the first quarter of the game. We started off very slow because the game was no longer our focus.”
After Columbia coaches pointed out the rules by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NJSIAA) that allow beads and other hard objects to be secured in hair, the player was allowed back in the game.
After learning about the incident, Acting Superintendent of the South Orange- Maplewood School District, Kevin F. Gilbert, said: “I was shocked when I learned that one of our very own student-athletes was subjected to the same discrimination that New Jersey’s CROWN Act was established to prevent.” Gilbert filed a racial bias complaint with the NJSIAA, which set the rules for high school sports in New Jersey and it is investigating the incident.
“We look forward to the outcome and hope this moves everyone toward valuing the intent and purpose of the rule changes governing high school sports competition and New Jersey’s CROWN Act,” Gilbert said about the state’s CROWN Act, which bars discrimination based on one’s hair, was signed into law by NJ Governor Phil Murphy in 2019.
West Caldwell school leaders declined to comment on pending investigations. Superintendent Christopher Conklin of the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District promised staff cooperation with the ongoing probe by the NJSIAA.