Officials at the Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark, N.J., plan to investigate an incident in which a visiting girls basketball team found a black dummy hanging from its neck in a room they were assigned, the Courier News and Home Tribune reports.
According to the report, when girls from the Plainfield High School basketball team arrived at the Arthur L. Johnson school for an 11 a.m. game Saturday, the girls found a black dummy hanging from its neck by a string with a basketball attached to it.
The Plainfield girls opened the door to a classroom they were given to use as a team room and were greeted by the dummy, which had eyes that appeared to be bulging from its head and a gaping mouth, the Tribune describes.
Plainfield first-year head coach Keshon Bennett confirmed the discovery and said that his team continued to play after seeing the dummy, ultimately losing 64-20. The Plainfield girls quickly left the school after the game was over.
"We have been made aware that a picture taken by the coach or a member of the Plainfield girl’s basketball team has been posted on social media of a puppet that was reportedly posed in a classroom located in the Clark Public Schools," Edward Grande, superintendent of Clark Public Schools, said in a statement. "The Clark Board Education and the Clark community does not condone any demonstrations of intolerance."
According to the Tribune, state census data from 2010 show that Plainfield High had an African-American population of 50 percent, compared with Johnson High's black population of 0.8 percent that same year.
Read more at the Courier News and Home Tribune.