It Just Shouldn't Be

I should be ecstatic that the hockey season is about to begin. Instead, I feel a great level of disgust at a fellow hockey fan. If you haven't heard the news yet, former Kings standout Wayne Simmonds had a banana peel thrown at him during a pre-season scrimmage. That's right a f***'n banana peel.

As you would expect, Wayne brushed it off. Still, I found part of his response a bit disturbing. From the Washington Post.

“When you’re a black man playing in a predominantly white man’s sport, you’ve got to come to expect things like that,” Simmonds said. “Over the past 23 years of my life, I’ve come to expect some things like that. But I’m older and more mature now, I kind of just left things roll off [my back]. I try not to think about stuff like that.”

I absolutely understand where Wayne is coming from. Being a minority requires that you learn to accept and look beyond the subtle (and sometimes overt) forms of racism around you, but it shouldn't be like that. It just shouldn't be.

Read Frozen Royalty Kings reporter Gann Matsuda's excellent write up about this, here. Other Kings bloggers also respond: Surly & Scribe. Battle of California.

(Pic: Harry How/Getty Images)