TEMPE, AZ — An ASU student is viewing his surroundings more cautiously after someone wrote the n-word on his car. He was parked outside his on-campus dorm room, on Apache Boulevard, near McAllister Avenue.
Richard Bryant is a sports business major. The freshman, whose family now lives in Chandler, was shocked when he stepped outside his dorm Sunday morning.
"I was upset that they could happen. I thought everybody was friendly here. Everybody seems friendly, but that's terrible," said Bryant.
What was so unsettling was that someone used their finger to write a racial slur on the dusty part of the car's bumper.
"They had to know whose car it was," said Daneek McCloud, Richard's mom.
When McCloud found out she immediately texted her son.
"Instantly, it scared me, because you send your kids off to these schools and for them to come out to things like this, written on their car, it's beyond me," she said.
"I think they were just trying to be funny. But it's not funny," said Bryant.
McCloud though, does not think it was a joke. Rather, she thinks it was malicious.
"It was a malicious intent," she said. "I have two young boys, and I talk to them daily about their interaction with the cops, now you can't even go further your education because you have to worry about other kids at the school."
The targeted racial slur now has re-assessing his surroundings.
"I don't know who did it. could be someone that I sit next to," said Bryant. "Someone that I go to school with is looking down on me. That's a terrible way to feel."
McCloud has already filed a police report and is hoping cameras caught the culprit or that their fingerprints lead detectives to their doorstep.
"I'm definitely going to try to find out who did it," she said. "I just want to feel my son is safe at this school."
McCloud said Tempe police have dusted the bumper for fingerprints. It is unclear though what charges the person responsible could face if they are caught.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Arizona State told ABC15:
“ASU denounces all racially insensitive, hate-inspired statements. The university encourages inclusivity, diversity and an open civil exchange of ideas and different points of view. We encourage students, staff and faculty to report such incidents to the Dean of Students Office.”
