The Cadre

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November 18, 1997

Is the NHL looking to hang

somebody?

or should we feel sorry for Chris Simon?

By Colin Bassett

As a devoted fan of hockey I usually find myself only defending my favorite team. Recently I put that tenet aside to defend the actions of another team’s player. The player being Chris Simon of the Washington Capitals.

In an incident that occured on November 8th, 1997 between Mike Grier (African American) and Simon (First Nations Canadian), Simon was accused of making racial slurs towards Grier after the very intense game that ended in a 2-1 win for Washington.

Tempers on both sides flared after the game, and amongst the pushing and shoving common in evey hockey game, Simon allegedly lost his temper and called Grier a “nigger”.

I certainly do not support or condone Simon’s actions. | do, however, have a big problem with the way the media handled the incident. In newspapers across the United States and Canada, Simon is being portrayed as a horrific racist who should be suspended from the NHL indefinitely.

Has the media forgotten that Simon is a First Nations Canadian who has played hockey for many years? Surely during this time he has had to endure some racial slurs of his own, including fire-starter, Indian, spear-chucker, chief, wagon burner, and spook. | found it strange that the media failed to an eenten in their reports while dragging Simons over the coals.

Yes, what Chris Simon did was wrong. Yes, he should have apologized to Mike ae Simon surely should not be turned into a scapegoat for the National Hockey League’s problems with race relations. =