Oh Boy, He's at it again....

[sj-roc]

Life goes on. Grow a pair and move on.

I see. Does your advice apply equally to males and females?

So this is what lionsbackers.com is turning into now?

Not sure what you mean; care to elaborate?

[Oiler]

a dumb comment to be sure but these types of comments will only bother you IF ..... YOU let them

the choice is yours!

Yea the whole world thinks the "C" word is inoffensive. Whether it hurts some people or not these are words designed to hurt. That's why I agree he should be punished. Ignorance is no excuse, especially coming from a person whose race has been well known to have been discriminated upon in the past and present.

[David]

MOD NOTE - No need to have multiple threads dealing with the same subject, so I have merged multiple topics into one. Thanks.

DH

[notahomer]

Regretable comment by Mitchell, I'm sure. My girlfriend refers to herself, thats right herself, as a banana. All I will do to explain her term for herself is that her mother and all prior family generations were born in China but she considers herself Canadian. As far as Khalif's comments, she hears far worse on the bus every week from all 'colours' of people including asians upset that her boyfriend is caucasian. We maybe be a diverse society but I still feel we could all use a little more schooling in the so-called golden rule. Almost every organized major religon seems to have a version of it. I try to live by it and I'm agnostic.......

Khalif's stammering apology is enough for me. This guy keep making mistakes. That maybe bad but making mistakes and then repeating them is worse (I don't feel he's repeated any). I hope he's learned from this one and we can move on. I wouldn't mind chatting about american politics with Khalif. I'm guessing we might have similar views (about the politics!)......

[Blitz]

The world has changed and what is acceptable and the repurcussions for unacceptable behavior have increased. We live in a multicultural country as well as the world being more global.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse and ignorance in terms of making a racist comment is not acceptable either. Benevedes was right to suspend him for the Edmonton game and the last thing we needed was to have a focus on Khalif for the third Edmonton game in a row. I was a huge advocate of Khalif becoming a starter on our Leos when he was on the bench, I supported his arm twisting in Edmonon as an impulsive act in the heat of battle but he is getting very difficult to support as a future Leo, dispite his talent. After two major incidents in Edmonton and being injured recently he should have been focused on football and helping his team and being wiser.

I just initiated a recent thread titled Disappointing and Khalif was my biggest disappointment this football season prior to his racist 'tweet'. We're not talking about a guy from the 'hood' lacking in any cultural knowledge. Yes, Americans are insular but Khalif Mitchell attended university in East Carolina and was a member of the San Francisco 49'ers. He should have more than a good understanding of what is acceptable or not in terms of racist comments.

We have Leo fans from every cultural background, including fans with a Chinese ethiciny. Whether Khalif truly and deeply understood what he wrote is not the question. The fact is that he made a racist comment, he is responsiible for it, and he has just hurt our Leo club again by the comment as well as creating a negative for the CFL... and the fact that Benevedes had to take action, which makes us a weaker lineup against Edmonton.

I just shake my head at this latest incident by Khalif.

[B.C.FAN]

I didn't expect Mitchell to play this week anyway since he is still bothered by his injury, but it's clear that Wally is losing patience with him. When Wally loses patience with a player, it can end a career.

[TheLionKing]

TheLionKing, not even something like "Stop Racism"?

A few years ago fans were allowed to bring signs and even bed sheets to games and hang them up. They don't allow that anymore which is a shame. Some of the signs were hilarious.

[DanoT]

The world has changed and what is acceptable and the repurcussions for unacceptable behavior have increased. We live in a multicultural country as well as the world being more global.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse and ignorance in terms of making a racist comment is not acceptable either. Benevedes was right to suspend him for the Edmonton game and the last thing we needed was to have a focus on Khalif for the third Edmonton game in a row. I was a huge advocate of Khalif becoming a starter on our Leos when he was on the bench, I supported his arm twisting in Edmonon as an impulsive act in the heat of battle but he is getting very difficult to support as a future Leo, dispite his talent. After two major incidents in Edmonton and being injured recently he should have been focused on football and helping his team and being wiser.

I just initiated a recent thread titled Disappointing and Khalif was my biggest disappointment this football season prior to his racist 'tweet'. We're not talking about a guy from the 'hood' lacking in any cultural knowledge. Yes, Americans are insular but Khalif Mitchell attended university in East Carolina and was a member of the San Francisco 49'ers. He should have more than a good understanding of what is acceptable or not in terms of racist comments.

We have Leo fans from every cultural background, including fans with a Chinese ethiciny. Whether Khalif truly and deeply understood what he wrote is not the question. The fact is that he made a racist comment, he is responsiible for it, and he has just hurt our Leo club again by the comment as well as creating a negative for the CFL... and the fact that Benevedes had to take action, which makes us a weaker lineup against Edmonton.

I just shake my head at this latest incident by Khalif.

Blitz, I agree with your post except for the underlined part. Yes he should have an understanding as to what is acceptable, but the evidence is that he doesn't in spite of his education and time in SF. And this applies to "the slash" as well as his "questionable defence" of his play on Rottier and this latest incident. I doubt Mitchell intended his comment a racist but this means he is literally ignorant. I don't doubt that he is immature, unsophisticated and not very worldly.

In our society it seems the more gifted an athlete the more pampering and less discipline he gets. I think Mitchell needs some mentoring and perhaps some counselling. He definitely needs to hear the riot act from coach Benny. BTW Mitchell is not suspended because CFL/Player Association rules don't allow it, so he has been put on the 46 man roster but not the 42 man, so he will not dress for the game against Edmonton.

[Robbie]

He did apologize and show remorse, and that's the most important thing. I hope the huge Chinese-Canadian community in Vancouver can forgive him for his mistake.

The league doesn't need a repeat from the racial incident from the 2004 season when an official said to a player: "Get off the field, I don't understand ebonics."

On another note, there's a sizeable Chinese media in the Lower Mainland (Fairchild TV, etc) and I'd be curious to know how they are reporting this story.

The Vancouver version of the Chinese World Journal has already released an article:
http://van.worldjournal.com/view/full_v ... =bc_story1

言論涉歧視 雄獅隊員遭罰

卑詩雄獅隊（BC Lions）防守隊員米切爾（Khalif Mitchell）16日在推特（Twitter）上就當晚美國總統大選辯論發表言論稱，「兩位總統候選人都有通過中國佬藏錢」（both of them hide money with the Chinks），其中「中國佬」（Chinks）一詞被指種族歧視。
加拿大美式足球聯盟（CFL）17日宣布對米切爾歧視中國人的言論予以罰款處罰，但並未透露具體罰款數額。

米切爾16日推特言論一出，即被網友指責種族歧視。米切爾回應說，他並不知道中國佬一詞帶有種族歧視性，他稱從未想過歧視或傷害任何人，僅僅是想表達「歐巴馬和羅穆尼企圖讓美國人民相信中國銀行」的觀點。

明顯加拿大美式足球聯盟對米切爾的解釋不買帳，17日宣布米切爾因違反職業球團的媒體條例，給予罰款處罰。

●簡蕙芝批行為愚蠢

省長簡蕙芝直接批評此行為「愚蠢」，她還說，卑省是全球最具有多元文化的特色的地方，這也是她個人一直引以為傲的地方。她認為這樣的言論，是非常錯誤、不合適的。

根據加拿大美式足球聯盟網站顯示，球員禁止在社交網路發表淫穢、露骨、歧視、貶低球隊、工作人員、球員、雇員或球迷的言語。

The Vancouver Ming Pao also mentioned this.

稱華人為「中國佬」獅隊球員遭罰款
【明報專訊】卑詩獅隊防守球員米切爾(Khalif Mitchell)前晚在推特(twitter)發言使用貶低華人的字眼「中國佬」，引起球迷及網友的公憤，他還回應說不知道「中國佬」(Chinks)有種族歧視的意思；他雖然後來作出道歉，但加拿大美式足球聯盟(Canadian Football League)已宣布會對在推特上失言的米切爾處以罰款。

米切爾前晚在推特針對美國總統大選辯論發言說：「我的隊友說我認為誰贏得辯論，我說美國人。因為如果密切觀察，兩人都在『中國佬』那裏藏錢(hide money with the Chinks)」。

米切爾的發言立刻網友回應，罵他是個「種族主義者」(racist)，而米切爾之後再發推特辯稱，他說以為「Chink」字是「Chinese」的簡寫，「不知道這個字眼有冒犯的地方」。

米切爾說，「我從來不知道Chink帶有種歧歧視，我無意傷害人，我只是暗指不管是奧巴馬或是羅姆尼(Romney)，均在中國人的銀行有個人信託」。

網友或球迷對米切爾的解釋顯然不買帳(無法接受)，並有人要求加拿大美式足球聯盟應該對他採取禁賽，以示處罰。

簡蕙芝指行為「愚蠢」

卑詩省長簡蕙芝昨日在參加記者會時，也回應指米切爾的發言說，本省是全世界最多元文化的地方，大家所作所為均是為了鼓勵包容對方，所以她認為米切爾竟然如此出言不遜，實在是「愚蠢」(dumb)。

As did the Chinese version of the Vancouver Sun.

卑詩雄獅球員網絡使用對華裔人士種族歧視語言遭罰款

加拿大橄欖球聯盟星期三宣布，已經對卑詩雄獅隊後衛截鋒Kahlif Mitchell進行罰款。大聯盟指出，Mitchell“在Twitter上發表了違反聯盟社交網絡政策的評論”。

但大聯盟並沒有說明罰款的數額。

Mitchell在Twitter上評論昨晚舉行的美國總統辯論時，用了具有侮辱性的“Chink”一詞指代Chinese，而遭到大量網上批評。

Mitchell強調自己不認為這個詞有種族歧視的意味，對他來說就只是Chinese的縮寫。

加拿大橄欖球聯盟的社交網絡政策指出：“如果一個球員，球隊僱主，或者聯盟僱主使用社交網絡（包括轉發或者其他人的發言到自己的賬戶中），導致加拿大橄欖球聯盟陷入糾紛，則可能遭到專員辦公室的處罰。”

[Blitz]

The world has changed and what is acceptable and the repurcussions for unacceptable behavior have increased. We live in a multicultural country as well as the world being more global.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse and ignorance in terms of making a racist comment is not acceptable either. Benevedes was right to suspend him for the Edmonton game and the last thing we needed was to have a focus on Khalif for the third Edmonton game in a row. I was a huge advocate of Khalif becoming a starter on our Leos when he was on the bench, I supported his arm twisting in Edmonon as an impulsive act in the heat of battle but he is getting very difficult to support as a future Leo, dispite his talent. After two major incidents in Edmonton and being injured recently he should have been focused on football and helping his team and being wiser.

I just initiated a recent thread titled Disappointing and Khalif was my biggest disappointment this football season prior to his racist 'tweet'. We're not talking about a guy from the 'hood' lacking in any cultural knowledge. Yes, Americans are insular but Khalif Mitchell attended university in East Carolina and was a member of the San Francisco 49'ers. He should have more than a good understanding of what is acceptable or not in terms of racist comments.

We have Leo fans from every cultural background, including fans with a Chinese ethiciny. Whether Khalif truly and deeply understood what he wrote is not the question. The fact is that he made a racist comment, he is responsiible for it, and he has just hurt our Leo club again by the comment as well as creating a negative for the CFL... and the fact that Benevedes had to take action, which makes us a weaker lineup against Edmonton.

I just shake my head at this latest incident by Khalif.

Blitz, I agree with your post except for the underlined part. Yes he should have an understanding as to what is acceptable, but the evidence is that he doesn't in spite of his education and time in SF. And this applies to "the slash" as well as his "questionable defence" of his play on Rottier and this latest incident. I doubt Mitchell intended his comment a racist but this means he is literally ignorant. I don't doubt that he is immature, unsophisticated and not very worldly.

In our society it seems the more gifted an athlete the more pampering and less discipline he gets. I think Mitchell needs some mentoring and perhaps some counselling. He definitely needs to hear the riot act from coach Benny. BTW Mitchell is not suspended because CFL/Player Association rules don't allow it, so he has been put on the 46 man roster but not the 42 man, so he will not dress for the game against Edmonton.

I guess I will never really know for sure if Mitchell has understanding or not....perhaps as you say Dano T...he is 'literally ignorant'...but he is accountable and responsible. Mitchell also does get mentoring from teammates but counseling seems an appropriate option as well. He seems to have issues..as his teammate Dante Marsh was quoted yesterday in the local paper:

If I’m a grown man, and I don’t know how to police myself, or when to shut up, especially on a social site or a public forum, then I have some issues,” said Lions veteran Dante Marsh. “I’ve done all that I can do.”

As for the posted comments which minimize Mitchell's comments...he is a public figure and public figures have been fired for less in terms of racist comments. He will be fortunate to be given another chance although I hope he is.

I have strong feelings with regard to this incident. I played football and was close friends with players of many different cultural backgrounds....mostly Polynesian and Black. My best friend for a long period of time was a guy named Ting, who was born in Taiwan. They were cool guys and I abhor racist comments.

However, I also have had the experience of 'reverse' racism. I was once the only 'white' person in a class and was called a 'howlie' by a couple of the guys, which can mean foreigner but can also be meant to be racist depending on the context and the context in this case was not positive. Its not a good feeling to say the least.

You said in your post Dano T "that in our society the more gifted an athlete is, the more pampering and less displine he gets". That may be true but it shouldn't be.

I have never considered myself a 'fan' although I have used the word on occasion. The word 'fan' comes from the word fanatic. Sometimes there is a danger in the 'fan' mentality to let certain behaviors which are unacceptable in society be given a longer rope when a person is a professional athlete.

I love football, love watching our Lions play and I highly respect and appreciate the talents and skills that are required to play the pro game successfully. I also highly respect and appreciate character when its very evident in pro athletes. But pro athletes are not my heroes unless they do something special off the playing field. My heroes are people like Terry Fox and the guy down the street who cuts firewood every year for an old senior who has a very bad case of arthritis.

Khalif Mitchell is a talented defensive tackle. But he is replaceable as we all are in our careers. I wrote before this incident that he seriously needs to get his act together. After this incident its even more pronounced and being a key player on our defense in the past is not good enough for Mitchell's behaviors to be minimized. They are simply not acceptable.

[WestCoastJoe]

Khalif has shown disregard for all kinds of people.

Teammates

Coaches

Management

Opponents

League officials

He disregards the media by bald facedly telling them non truths. Of course he knows that term is insulting. He is an intelligent man who took communications at college.

To me his casual use of a racist term shows disregard for Asians.

But his disregard for Asians is no worse than his disregard for all the other parties. In his private life he may well have used insulting terms for other races including his own. And by this I don't mean he is racist. He just disregards all kinds of people.

He has a definite side to him that goes all in, that goes into free fall.

I don't think he is a bad guy, but it seems he is sulky and immature and self indulgent.

Does all of this make him a bad guy? No, but he is like a giant, willful child.

If he is thinking, "I can get away with this (by pleading ignorance), he is wrong." All his credits are used up.

His best chance is wholesale apology. To his teammates first. Then to each and every other party in turn.

If he stays stubborn, he is headed down a dangerous road.

And I am a fan. Time for him to man up, and change his ways, even if he is the biggest kid on the block.

Twisting the arm was not a "football play."

Making the throat slash gesture was not making "the sign of the cross." Did I say he disrespects religion?

Tweeting the racist term was not done from "lack of knowledge."

I think he is testing the limits, of everyone and everything. Like a giant child.

[Buonosjanet69]

- disgusting hyper extension attempt, not even debatable as a "football" play
- clashing with teammates, allegedly
- racist tweets

time to let him go. You always hope for the best for any human being, but it's time for another team to babysit him.

Khalif, you've worn out your welcome

[MexicoLionFan]

League has fined him and in an internal move the Lions have scratched him from Friday's game.

B.C. Lions’ Khalif Mitchell fined by CFL, benched for Eskimos game after ‘unacceptable’ racial Twitter comments

Official Statement from Skulsky

This was the right move by the Lions. To leave him in the lineup would have created a huge distraction and a public debate about whether the League should have suspended him, particularly considering that this was no less than his third transgression so far this season, casting the team and the league in a very poor light. Being pro-active in scratching him will hopefully reduce the negativity of the incident.

This is an excellent post...thanks SJ for the links as well...I agree with you 100%...and did you listen to MBs comments...WOW...absolutely the purrfect thing to say...I am very, very impressed with Benevides in every aspect!

Now let's hope Mitchell learns from this experience, because that's all it is...yet another learning experience for him...and he needs to mature...in a hurry!

Thanks again SJ

[MexicoLionFan]

now despite what I said about giving Mitchell the benefit of the doubt, I do commend the Lions for taking swift action to deal with the matter. It is the right thing to do, even if Mitchell may have used that word in ignorance. As they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. But I can't help wonder if it was a much easier decision to sit Mitchell out than the Lions want us to believe. Personally, I have doubts about just how injured he has been these past few weeks and wonder if he's been more in the dog house than the trainer's room.

I have felt the same thing BCL...I think the Lions are actively trying to help him understand and mature from behind the scenes...and to everyone here, I would caution again, we could all become embroiled in situations like these ourselves while living in another country...so let's try and have some compassion...as I said earlier, it is what he does from here that will define Mitchell...and that includes whether or not he is a Lion in 2013...we all must give him the chance to grow from this...

But as Dano said, the Get out of Jail Free cards are fast running out...

[South Pender]

Is Mitchell on a one-year plus option contract? I guess I'm asking whether we have him for next year if we want to use the option. I hope that's the case, as, at the very least, the Lions could sit him down this year and then trade him in the off-season. I'm sure there would be takers, and we might be able to solve at least some of our O-line problems this way. On the other hand, if he is not bound to the Lions for 2013, then none of this would apply.