A DISTURBING argument between a Black man and a group of white people at a large summer event in Nevada has been caught on video.

The clip shows a Black man yelling at a white man for allegedly telling him to find the “hanging tree” and then laughing before the Black man is ushered off the property.

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The altercation occurred earlier this weekend at a Hot August Nights event in Virginia City, Nevada, located about 35 minutes outside of Reno.

TikTok user Uncle Ricky (@unclerickyd1), the Black man in the video, shared the upsetting viral clip that has already been viewed over 650,000 times.

At the start of the video, Uncle Ricky can be heard asking the white man in a black t-shirt to repeat what he had said about “where the hanging tree is at.”

“In your backyard,” the white man responds, balling his hands into fists.

It appears a white woman tries to tell the white man that she agrees with Uncle Ricky, but she is ignored and pushed aside.

The white man soon sits back down into a folding chair set up on the sidewalk before two other white women exit the nearest shop to encourage Uncle Ricky to leave the sidewalk and the sitting men due to the commotion.

The younger woman can be heard saying that the white man is her father, while the older woman tries telling Uncle Ricky to calm down and go away.

After the clip went viral, internet sleuths claimed to have identified the white man and older woman as a couple from the nearby town of Minden, according to local news site The is Reno.

CITY OFFICIALS CONDEMN RACISM

City officials quickly posted a response to the video condemning the behavior.

“Earlier this weekend, an incident occurred in which individuals were harassed during an event, and comments were made that were hateful and racist,” officials wrote on the social media platform X.

“We want to make it clear on behalf of the Virginia City Tourism Commission that we find this behavior abhorrent and inexcusable.”

“Virginia City is an incredible historic town with vibrant events and a welcoming atmosphere. We stand wholly against any acts of hatred, racism, or violence,” representatives added.

“Virginia City is proud to be a town that invites all individuals, and we are working closely with our merchants and event partners to create a community that is inclusive and open to all.”

SUMMER NIGHTS HEATING UP

According to the event’s history page, Hot August Nights is an annual celebration that started in 1986 to revitalize the small mining town during the slow and steamy month of August.

Over the last forty years, the event has ballooned into a popular community gathering that attracts thousands of spectators and includes dozens of activities organized by area businesses, artists, and others.

The alleged owners of Virginia City’s Firehouse Saloon, the business where the argument occurred, said they were not “affiliated” with the people in the video.

But one of the women in the clip is wearing a shirt bearing the company’s name.

Local reporters report that since the video went viral, the owners have received a “firestorm” of comments online.

In a follow-up video on TikTok, Uncle Ricky thanked people for supporting him and said he was working in Virginia City when the “hurtful” incident occurred.

COMMUNITY ENRAGED, AND AFRAID

Thousands of people have since posted comments denouncing the argument and racism in general, comparing the argument to a scene from a horror flick.

“It’s like something out of a horror movie when they all come out and surround him with smiles on their faces and the high-pitched, overly sweet voices. I hope he gets justice and they get jail time,” one person commented on TikTok.

“I felt like I was watching a horror movie. This is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” a second added.

Several people said they felt fear after watching the clip.

“I’m Mexican looking at a screen & I’m hyperventilating I’m so sorry. I cannot imagine the feeling,” one person wrote.

“They were like a mob. This was so scary. I am so sorry you went through this. I wish I was there to cuss them out with you!!” another posted.

A request for comment from The U.S. Sun was not immediately addressed by Uncle Ricky or the organizers of the Hot August Nights event.

The white man and women accused of racism in the video could not be reached for comment by The U.S. Sun.

In Reno, the progressive grassroots group Indivisible Northern Nevada rallied at Idlewild Park on Saturday to support Vice President Kamala Harris.

Former Democratic Nevada Lieutenant Governor and Biden White House administration advisor, Kate Marshall, energized the crowd.

“Because we believe in this country and that we are a nation of laws. And Kamala is going to get us there, is she not? Woo! And we are going to get Kamala there, are we not?! Woo!”

The event focused on Kamala Harris and Project 2025, a 920-page plan written by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation to usher in the next Republican president. 

The event follows statewide democratic parties across the nation pledging their delegates to Kamala for the nomination. She will officially accept at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in two weeks.

Kamala Harris’s popularity reflects in the polls, bringing her neck-and-neck with former president Trump in Nevada and other crucial swing states.

It’s important to note that Former President Trump and the Republican National Committee have distanced themselves from Project 2025. Additionally, the director of the Heritage Foundation has stepped down due to the controversy surrounding the plan.

The Harris campaign has thirteen offices across Nevada and is launching an unprecedented canvassing and door-knocking operation in the Battleborn State.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — One of three inmates killed in a Nevada prison brawl this week was a member of a white supremacist prison gang who was serving a life sentence for his role in a murder at another Nevada prison, authorities said Friday.

The White Pine County Sheriff’s Office identified Anthony Williams, 41, as the third of the three people killed in Tuesday’s fight at Nevada’s maximum security prison in rural Ely. Nine other inmates were injured.

Prison and state officials have released few details since then, although White Pine County Sheriff Scott Henriod confirmed Friday that all three men died of stab wounds, or “multiple sharp force injuries.”

“This is an ongoing investigation,” Henriod said in an email to The Associated Press.

The other victims identified earlier were Connor Brown, 22, of South Lake Tahoe, California, and Zacharia Luz, 42, of Las Vegas.

Luz was identified as a street-level leader of the Aryan Warriors white supremacist prison gang. He and Williams were among 23 reputed members of the gang who were indicted in a sweeping racketeering case in Las Vegas involving murder, drug trafficking and identity theft in 2019.

That indictment tied Williams and another person to the 2016 stabbing death of Andrew Ryan Thurgood in a cell at High Desert State Prison in southern Nevada.

Williams pleaded guilty to open murder in Las Vegas in 2021 in a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. He also was convicted of being a habitual offender and was sentenced to life without parole at the prison in Ely, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of the Utah line, the Nevada Department of Corrections said.

Luz was sentenced last year to seven to 18 years in prison for his conviction on felony racketeering and forgery charges, the department said.

Brown was serving a seven- to 20-year sentence for robbery with use of a deadly weapon, the department said. He was sentenced in 2021 after pleading guilty to stabbing a gas station clerk and a casino patron in downtown Reno in 2020.

Authorities have not said what prompted the violence at the prison this week. Henriod said sheriff’s deputies were summoned about 9:40 a.m. on Tuesday.

No corrections officers were injured, prison officials said.

Ely State Prison is one of six Nevada prisons. It has almost 1,200 beds and houses the state’s death row for convicted killers and a lethal injection chamber that has never been used. Nevada has not carried out an execution since 2006.

Conditions behind bars in the state have drawn criticism from advocates, particularly during hot summers and cold winters. In December 2022, several people incarcerated at Ely State Prison held a hunger strike over what advocates and some family members described as unsafe conditions and inadequate food portions.

Efforts stalled before reaching the state Legislature last year to respond to a yearslong state audit that found widespread deficiencies in prison use-of-force policies.

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