- The men were arguing at a classic car show in a town near Reno, Nevada.
- A black man can be heard confronting an angry white man over alleged racial slurs.
- She asks the man where the hanging tree is and he replies, “In your backyard.”
A white man at a public event in Nevada told a black man who was filming him that there was a “hanging tree” in his backyard.
The men were attending Virginia City’s August 2 “Hot Nights in August,” a daylong tribute to classic cars in the city outside Reno.
The black man, who then uploaded the video to his TikTok account titled ‘unclerickyd1‘ and was identified by local news reports as Rick Johnson, begins in an agitated voice suggesting they had already begun taunting each other.
‘Keep talking. And where is the tree where people are hanged? Where is that? Where is the gallows tree?’
The white man, whose identity has not yet been revealed, gives her an obscene gesture with both middle fingers and replies: “In your backyard.”
A white man at a public event in Nevada told a black man who was filming him that there was a “hanging tree” in his backyard.
The Black man, who later uploaded the video to his TikTok account titled ‘unclerickyd1’ and was identified by local news reports as Rick Johnson, begins with an agitated voice suggesting they had already begun taunting each other.
He then tries to make Johnson leave, to which Johnson replies, “Make me go away.”
The white man then starts laughing at him and sits down with another man, saying, “I don’t make trash, I burn it.”
A white woman then attempts to get Johnson to leave the scene by trying to push him off the sidewalk.
She tries to be nice to Johnson as she shoos him away, telling him “Jesus loves you” and that he is “my brother.”
Johnson is not interested and replies: “Ma’am, you are constantly touching me. This is assault.”
He then begins talking to another woman, who Johnson suggests is the white man’s daughter, and explains the whole story from his perspective, saying that the man and his friend “ganged up” against him.
“Your father just said there’s a gallows tree for black people like me. What does that mean? And I didn’t disrespect your father. I asked him nicely, ‘Excuse me, sir, are you a registered voter?’ He said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘Thank you,’ then he turned around and said, ‘There’s a gallows tree down the street for black people like me.'”
Johnson then starts crying and asks, “Are you all just going to let this shit happen, like nobody cares?”
The white man, whose identity has not yet been revealed, gives her an obscene gesture with both middle fingers and replies that there is a tree hanging “in your backyard.”
He later uploaded the video, which has been viewed more than 100,000 times on TikTok, with the caption: “This is what I had to go through today! I have never felt so humiliated and disrespected in my life.”
Later in the clip, the white man can be heard saying, “I’m going to be on the five o’clock news.”
A spokesperson for Hot August Nights said in a social media post that “the individuals featured in the video” have had their registrations revoked.
‘We want to clarify that there were no representatives, volunteers or staff of Hot August Nights present in the video or involved in the situation. The people wearing Hot August Nights badges are participants in the event.’
Johnson later published a response video thanking people for their support in the aftermath of the incident.
The other man has not yet been identified and it is unclear if he faces any charges related to the incident, but the Stoney County Sheriff’s Office has stated that it is a “concerning incident” and is under investigation.
The Nevada Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it will provide assistance to local authorities.