Arrested for alleged racist insults

[CyLaxKeeper00]

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- An Argentine soccer player was detained after a Copa Libertadores match in Brazil on Wednesday because of alleged racist insults, local media reported....
Desabato was expected to be charged with racist insults, and could face from one to three years in prison if convicted, Goncalves said.

SI.com via CNN

1 to 3 years in jail for being a racist...interesting

[CATLAX MAN]

I don't know if jail time is the right answer, but it's sad to see this kind of stuff still happening in today's world. I know of a couple of incidents this year where racial comments have been made by players to other players during the course of MDIA games and I just don't understand where this mentality comes from. There is just no place for this and no excuse can justify this behavior. You might expect this from the uneducated, but not from those who have had the benefit of higher education.

[DanGenck]

You would be surprised. Racism is as strong as it has ever been... sadly...

[Sonny]

Racism is as strong as it has ever been... sadly...

Just curious... Specifically, how do you define racism Dan?

[DanGenck]

Good question. Everyone has a different feeling about it. Personally? I would define racism as unwarranted and irrational feelings of hostility toward an ethnic group different than your own.

Now... Cornel West, Toni Morrison, etc. may have a completely different take on racism and definition of it. To be honest, their definitions and ideas would make my own look elementary to say the least.

[Kyle Berggren]

It goes on in Men's leagues also.... It's going to happen, you have to be able to shrug it off from time to time. People are only going to make comments on the field if they feel threatened, or inferior. I've never seen a guy score 10 goals and go around the field trying to pick fights insulting people. It's usually the people that are getting beat on D, or frustrated your running the crap out of them in the midfield.

Nice little law though.... I bet they have few problems with racism.... or atleast outspoken racism...

[jessexy]

Racism has been a HUGE problem in European soccer in the last year. the Spanish national team was sanctioned by FIFA/UEFA a few months ago because of fans doing monkey chants and ape interpretations at black players from England and Samuel Eto'o, and African player who plays for Barcelona.

The Spanish National Team coach was fined for making a remark at a press conference.

French star Thierry Henry & Nike have started a campaign to snuff out racsim in soccer and his symbol is the wristband-thing like lance Armstrong, except he has black and white bands intertwined.

they are started to take is really really seriously and have banned fans, who are caught doing these racist acts, for months at a time. i think ive heard of a repeat offender who was banned from attending soccer matches for 18 months.

[ZagGrad]

My question is, how many different ethnicities/races are playing lacrosse right now? I have met a few Asian players, but other than that, it seems like the sport is dominated by white/caucasians. I'm sure it might be a problem when you get into world wide competition, but how can it be that big of a problem here in the US? I just have never seen or heard racism on or off the field here. I can name only two Black players: Kyle Harrison and John Christmas. Anyone else?

[Danny Hogan]

there are plenty of black players in hs and college in the southeastern us. not quite up to scale with the us population percentages. as anyone could guess, there are a TON of hispanic players in florida.

nobody down here knows lacrosse is supposed to be a preppy rich whiteboy sport.

to be honest most of the racism i have been around in lacrosse has been from players/teams from traditional lacrosse areas.

[CATLAX MAN]

California, like Florida, has a number of players who are from different ethnicities. Yes, the vast majority are Caucasian, but there are a number of players who are Asian, Hispanic, African American, etc.

The problem has nothing to do with being a white rich preppy sport. The problem lies in the individuals who are moronic enough to continue to perpetrate age-old stereotypes under the guise of "getting into someone's head." It's absolutely ridiculous that this continues to be problem in this day and age.

[s-kim77]

there are plenty of black players in hs and college in the southeastern us. not quite up to scale with the us population percentages. as anyone could guess, there are a TON of hispanic players in florida.

nobody down here knows lacrosse is supposed to be a preppy rich whiteboy sport.

to be honest most of the racism i have been around in lacrosse has been from players/teams from traditional lacrosse areas.

Actually, I dealt with a racist comment (I'm Asian) a couple years ago when I was playing in an MDIA and it against an SELC school. My initial reaction was surprise, then obviously anger, but ultimately I felt sad for the player involved.
Growing up in the North, I had to deal with racist comments a couple times during high school playing lacrosse.
Unfortunately there will always be individuals who for whatever reason feel threatened by something that they may not understand, that will perpetuate racism. It isn't just white people having racism towards blacks or asians, but i've seen just as much black racism towards whites and asians, and asian racism towards black or white.
Usually, it's just somebody that doesn't realize that a world exists outside their comfort zone.

[uzisuicide]

I would venture to say that it is true what Danny Hogan wrote about racism being more prevelent in the "traditional" lax areas. I guess I'd like to take a stab at this with my theory as to why I have seen this as well. I think it goes back to things like private schools being a major deal on the east coast. Most of these private schools are dominated by whites. A lot of these kids have elitest attitudes due to going to private school instead of public school, and they often come from lots of money. And what you get on the east is 'old' money. This is not an excuse for this behavior, but this atmosphere I think helps perpetuate the mind set. This behavior is moronic and low. Now this doesn't go for all the private school attendees, I've met a lot of cool people from private schools on the east. I just think that could be a contributing factor. And if your rich white private school elitest and then have your first encounter with an african american lax player, there is a high probablity that imappropriate comments will occur if he is kicking your butt on the field, or perhaps even if he isn't. I know in more southern area's, since lax is not as big of a sport, the lax kids tend to be a lot of the guys who wanted an alternative to basketball and football. Or guys that couldn't hack it in one of those two sports. So lets just say southern lax isn't comprised of as many preppy elitest rich folk. These guys tend to be more accepting since they tend to be, I don't want use the term atheletic outcasts, but it is the only thing I could think of. As for it going on in mens clubs I bet a lot of those guys tend to fall into the east coast prep catagory, because of all the northerners that move down to metropolitan areas in states like TX looking for technology jobs, and they want to hold onto their lax glory days. I would like to hear what some others think about this theory of mine.

As for someone saying nice little law. Racism is a terrible and unexcusible thing, but jail time for comments is ridiculous. That is why we have things like the 1st amendment here in the US. I know this wasn't in the US, but the 1st amendment protect all comments no matter how inappropiate. It's when things get violent that the law should and has right to intervene. Hopefully things don't get to that point. Hopefully in this country we can take the better road and educate people to see people with better eyes, rather than have to resort to laws. The best thing I think to combat racism is to promote equality to as many people as you can. Also do your personal best to defy and not buy into your racial stereotype. Because lets face it those stereotypes, for all races, exist because some people perpetuate their own stereotype. I think Chris Rock did a real funny piece of stand up about the different races and the trashy side that every race has. Wow before I typed all of this I should have pulled the Dennis Miller "I hate to go of on a rant here but..."

Interested to hear what everyone thinks

[Danny Hogan]

Most of these private schools are dominated by whites. A lot of these kids have elitest attitudes due to going to private school instead of public school

thats exactly where i was going with it.

[OAKS]

i wasn't there, but apparently there were some really bad comments made to our asian and black players when gt played ole miss about six or seven years ago. i personally haven't been witness to any racist comments while i've been in the selc.

as for the private school elitist thing, i think it depends more on the family. growing up in north carolina, i went to both public and private schools, and saw about the same amount of racism at both, which unfortunately was a lot. rather than the schools, i think you're hitting more on the families and communities that built and run those schools. if a mother and father grew up in a rich white community, they're probably going to stay in a rich white community and pass their ignorance on to their children by enrolling them in primarily white private schools and limiting their exposure to other races and cultures. i think the elitist private school attitude is just a symptom of a larger problem. there's probably just as much racism in the north, but you don't have the history of people acting on it like in the south.

[uzisuicide]

oaks you said it better than me. All that typing I did and for some reason I couldn't spit it out as nicely about the private school thing. Also yes there is just as much racism in the north as the south. I hate to go off on a rant here, but what I think is really to bad though is that due to those groups acting on there hateful tendencies in the south, the northerners like to point at the south and say how much better they are, and how the are so much more tolerant. There is just as much history of racism in NY as there is in Alabama I would venture to say. It's just that the south has the big stigma of being on the wrong side of the civil war, and the south image has never completely recovered from that. There were lots of slaves in the north, and many U.S. presidents had them. For even better examples of this watch those so called 'tolerant' Union soldiers in a film like Glory. The fact is that all of it is wrong, and the north I think is just better at sweeping it under the rug. Also I think that in heavy metropolitan areas in the north like NY, Philly, Chicago you get lots of other types of racism that is not widely publicized. Many people refer to this type of racism as reverse racism, but what is the point of the use of the word reverse? Racism is racism, and attaching a word like reverse and the lack of publicity it gets almost make it appear that it's ok. When it's not. The biggest evidence I would say of 'reverse' racism would have to be the LA riots. Whether or not the verdict handed down spurring the riots was right or not doesn't give the disappointed the right to violence. And then incidents like racism against Asian's (like s-kim77 pointed out) or hispanics don't get as much notice. But they are there, and have always been. There was also pre-civil war white on white hate as you can see in a film like Gangs of New York. While the story was fictional the historical context it existed in was extremely accurate, and Bill the Butcher was a real guy. Unfortunately I think a lot of people tend to narrow down the racist scope to black and white. Maybe it is because the African Americans have made themselves the loudest group when it comes to racial problems. I don't know, but I think a lot of people look at it like a one on one issue, when there are many groups including blacks and white that go back and forth everyday that people don't think about. I bet that if you asked any person on the street to give an example of a racial charged situation, they would give a situation of white opressing african americans. I think most random people would give that example even in today post 9/11 atmosphere. Not that their example is wrong but people need to be I think more aware of racism going on between all groups. Comments comments?