St. John’s fires fencing coach for racist comments
A top coach at St. John’s University’s acclaimed fencing program was fired after recent footage of him making racist comments about black people — including that “the majority” of blacks steal, kill and do drugs and President Abraham Lincoln “made a mistake” — during a virtual coaching session was publicly leaked, the Daily News has learned.
Boris Vaksman, a longtime assistant coach at the Queens school’s elite fencing team, also said that black people are responsible for most social ills in leaked audio from a Zoom call recorded on June 3, and posted anonymously to Instagram on Wednesday.
St. John’s confirmed that Vaksman was terminated on Wednesday.
According to multiple current fencers who have studied under Vaksman, the coach made the comments during a youth coaching session with Fencer’s Club, an elite private fencing club located in Manhattan that serves as a key development ground for college and Olympic fencing.
“Because the most trouble [is] coming from where? ….from Black people,” said Vaksman, who works under St. John Head Coach Yury Gelman’s fourth-ranked Division I Men’s Fencing team. Gelman, who is entering his 25th season with St. John’s, has also coached Team USA’s Fencing in five Olympic competitions, including Rio in 2016.
The veteran coach and USA Fencing referee continued calmly delivering his racist tirade.
“Because they don’t want to work, they steal, they kill, they [do] drugs, everything comes from [black people],” he said, before clarifying that it was only “the majority.”
The recording ends with Vaksman saying “I think uh…what’s his name, Lincoln, made a mistake…,” an obvious reference to Abraham Lincoln ending the slavery of African Americans by signing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Vaksman has not yet responded to The News’ request for comment, but the audio leaked on Instagram was corroborated with video of Vaksman making the same comments provided to The News.
The video was also posted to Instagram by Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, who added, ““This video is a reminder that coaches and teachers, those people entrusted with building us, educating us, and protecting us, too often perpetuate the discriminatory treatment and behaviors that normalize racism.”
Vaksman was fired from St. John’s shortly after the incident was posted.
“As soon as the recording was brought to our attention the matter was immediately investigated and the individual no longer works at the University. The racist comments expressed are completely unacceptable and a rejection of everything for which the University stands,” wrote St. John’s Athletic Director Michael Cragg in a statement to the News.
Sources also tell The News that Vaksman is currently suspended from Fencer’s Club, and refer to an email sent Saturday that informs the club’s community of the suspension of a “long-time valued coach.”
“As we will simply not tolerate inappropriate behavior in our community,” the email reads, “today we suspended a long-time valued coach of Fencers Club as their behavior and words were completely unacceptable and inconsistent with our community’s values. Only if the terms of suspension, which includes sensitivity training, are adhered to, will the suspension be satisfied. Upon return, they are also required to perform community service.”