Roosters star Latrell Mitchell won’t be stopped by racist trolls
That one of best and brightest should have to endure this kind of abuse is shameful — but social media racist trolls have met their match in Sydney Roosters superstar Latrell Mitchell.
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Indigenous Sydney Roosters champion Latrell Mitchell has banned himself from social media to avoid racist trolls affecting his build-up to Saturday night’s preliminary final against Melbourne.
The move is only temporary and won’t stop him calling out racists as “sad and sickening”, especially after one keyboard warrior last month posted that Mitchell was a “filthy black maggot”.
“I’ll do that (call trolls out) for the rest of my career, for the rest of my life,’’ he said.
“This week I want to protect my energy and just worry about myself. I got rid of Instagram for the week so I can see where I can take my footy.
“I’ve had a few rough patches where a few words cut deep. They are just words and they won’t say it to my face.
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“I’ll focus on myself this week and not worry what people say to try and get me off my game because I know they’re going to do it.
“My dad (former Souths player, Matt) would always pull me off the field if someone was being racist.
“I know as a man I don’t want my kids growing up with that. And the sad part is, they are going to.
“It just bothers me that people can stoop to being so sad with their lives they have to come after me.
“If you can’t say it to someone’s face, you shouldn’t be saying anything. I don’t get where they stoop to a sad level where you go after someone’s background or personality.
“It is sickening that you can take yourself to a place where you call someone a monkey or something like that.”
Roosters coach Trent Robinson witnessed Mitchell being racially abused in 2016.
“We were at Leichhardt probably three years ago watching the Wyong boys play and this fella called me a black c… in front of everyone. I just laugh,” Mitchell said.
“I just want to be a great role model for my people and the kids. They have grown up with it.
“I want them to set a standard for themselves where they can grow up and get this out of their lives.
“It has been around for so long, it needs to come to an end. Let’s just move on.
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“You come here on a boat to a land, you call it terra nullius, land that belongs to nobody.
“Where were Aboriginal people when they were saying this — obviously killing us, raping us, genocide, trying to wipe us out.
“It is sickening and it is still going on. The stolen generation is still going on. The system is rorted. It has to change.
“I have never really had a voice until now. My dad has drilled it into me. He is really passionate about culture and history. It is sad.”