RENO, Nev. — A rural Nevada sheriff is investigating a potential hate crime after a Black man collecting signatures for a ballot measure recorded a confrontation in which another man reportedly directed a racial slur at him and mentioned a “hanging tree” for people like him.
“I’m still shaking every time I think about it,” Ricky Johnson said by phone as he boarded a plane in northern Nevada back to his home in Houston, Texas.
Johnson posted part of the video of the August 2nd incident in Virginia City, Nevada, on social media. The comments he received sparked swift condemnation from local and state officials. The sponsors of the 10-day Hot August Nights classic car event, which was occurring at the time, revoked the registrations of those identified in the confrontation with Johnson.
Storey County Undersheriff Eric Kern said the office had completed interviews with Johnson and potential suspects and forwarded the case to the district attorney to decide on any charges.
“As far as a hate crime, it could be an element,” Kern noted. “There is an enhancement we are looking at.”
Johnson, not visible in the video he posted to TikTok, said a white man called him a racial epithet and referenced the “hanging tree” before he began recording the encounter. In the recording, Johnson asks the man to repeat what he said.
A loud, profanity-filled argument ensues on both sides before a woman tells Johnson he is on her property. The video shows Johnson repeatedly asking her not to touch him as they move the conversation into the street.
Kern stated that Johnson had provided the video to investigators, emphasizing that no one involved in the incident has been uncooperative during the investigation.
In a statement over the weekend, the sheriff’s office assured the public it does not condone racism, inequality, or hate speech and is conducting a thorough investigation.
“But I want to say that, in general, in Virginia City, this is not something that happens here,” Kern mentioned. “It’s really a sad thing but it’s an isolated incident. It has caused a lot of negative impacts on all sides because people are forming negative opinions. People are calling businesses.”
Storey County District Attorney Anne Langer did not respond to an email requesting comment. A spokeswoman for her office referred calls to County Manager Austin Osborne, who declined to comment on the status of any potential charges. However, he stated that the “abhorrent and inexcusable” behavior exhibited “by a few individuals” does not reflect the community’s values.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is Black, expressed support for the Storey County Sheriff’s Office in investigating what he described as a “hateful, racist incident” in one of Nevada’s most storied towns. Virginia City attracts tens of thousands of tourists who explore its wood-planked sidewalks filled with old saloons and stores in the Virginia Range, about 30 minutes from Reno.
The city was Nevada’s largest in the mid-1800s when the discovery of the Comstock Lode brought thousands of silver miners. Samuel Clemens got his start in the newspaper industry there, adopting his pen name, Mark Twain, at the Territorial Enterprise.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo expressed his concern and disappointment on social media.
“Racism and hate have no place in Nevada — this behavior must be condemned in the strongest terms possible,” he wrote.
The Virginia City Tourism Commission also denounced the “hateful and racist” behavior as “abhorrent and inexcusable.”
Johnson was working for Advanced Micro Targeting Inc., a Texas-based company that provides voter outreach and get-out-the-vote services, collecting signatures for a proposed Nevada state ballot initiative aimed at capping fees attorneys collect from clients in personal injury cases.
Johnson, who has been the target of racial slurs before, said the Virginia City incident was different.
“To be actually in the middle of that and you have no way out, you feel like you’re being surrounded by all these people. I felt closed in,” he stated.
