A Black Guy in Rural Nevada Says He Was Harassed Because of His Race, and the Sheriff is Looking Into a Possible Hate Crime

RENO, Nevada — A rural Nevada sheriff is looking into a possible hate crime after a Black man who was collecting papers for a ballot measure recorded a fight with another man who he said called him a racial slur and told him, “They have a hanging tree for people like him.”

Ricky Johnson called The Associated Press on Monday as he got on a plane in northern Nevada to go back to his home in Houston, Texas. “I’m still shaking every time I think about it,” he said.

Johnson shared a portion of the film of what happened in Virginia City, Nevada, on August 2 on social media. It was quickly criticized by officials in the city and state. The 10-day Hot August Nights class car event that was going on at the time said it took away the licenses of the people seen in the video arguing with Johnson.

Monday, Eric Kern, the undersheriff of Storey County, said that talks with Johnson and possible suspects were complete. The case has now been sent to the district attorney so that a decision can be made on any charges.

Kern told the AP, “Being a part of a hate crime is possible.” “We are looking at a way to make things better.”

Johnson said a white guy called him a racial slur and talked about the “hanging tree” before he started recording the incident. The video he posted to TikTok doesn’t show Johnson. As heard on the tape, Johnson asks the man to say it again.

After a loud, swearing fight on both sides, a woman told Johnson he was on her property. The video shows that Johnson keeps telling her not to touch him as they move the argument outside and into the street.

Kern said Johnson gave the video to the police. He said that no one has been unwilling to help with the probe, not even the suspects or the victims.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement over the weekend that it doesn’t tolerate racism, unfair treatment, or hate speech and wants the public to know that it’s conducting a full probe.

Though Kern said, “I want to say that this doesn’t happen here in Virginia City very often.” “This is a very sad event, but it’s not a pattern.” Everybody is having a bad time because of it because people have a bad opinion about it. Business are getting calls.

Anne Langer, the district attorney for Storey County, didn’t answer an email Monday asking for comment. Calls were sent to County Manager Austin Osborne by a staffer for her office. The office of Osborne said he wasn’t accessible.

Nevada’s Black Attorney General Aaron Ford backed the Storey County Sheriff’s Office on Monday in their investigation of what he called a “hateful, racist incident” in one of Nevada’s most historic towns.

Tens of thousands of tourists visit Virginia City every year to walk along its wood-planked sidewalks, which are lined with old shops and saloons. The city is in the Virginia Range, 30 minutes east of Reno and in the Sierra Nevada.

It was Nevada’s biggest city in the middle of the 1800s, when the Comstock Lode was found and a lot of silver workers moved there. Mark Twain was Samuel Clemens’s stage name when he wrote for the Territorial Enterprise. This is where he got his start in the newspaper business.

In a social media post, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo said he was worried and upset about what happened.

He wrote on X, “Racism and hate have no place in Nevada. This behavior must be condemned in the strongest terms possible.”

The Virginia City Tourism Commission called the behavior “abhorrent and inexcusable” and said it was “hateful and racist.”

Johnson was working for Advanced Micro Targeting Inc., a company based in Texas that helps people get out and vote. His job was to collect signatures for a Nevada state ballot proposal that would limit the fees that personal injury lawyers can charge their clients.

Johnson told me that people have called him racial slurs before, but the Virginia City event was different.

“To be in the middle of that and not be able to get out” You think that all of these people are around you. “I felt squished,” he said.