Elijah Millsap: Lindsey in exit interview: “if u say one more word, I’ll cut your Black *** and send you back to Louisiana”.

[gomretat]

Zanik is the one who would be able to corroborate Millsap’s statement since he was carefully listening to be able to take detailed notes. Millsap also doesn’t say anything about context. Was it a relaxed meeting, contentious, bitter, joking? What did this comment supposedly stem from?

And for what its worth, even if someone was taking detailed notes and if that comment was made, it is not going to show up in the notes.

 

[Getting Traded]

If he said it, he should definitely face repercussions.......but should everyone that makes a racially insensitive remark, possibly in a heated exchange or misguided attempt to motivate someone, automatically lose their job?

We need to stop erasing people from society due to these mistakes. Suspension, diversity training, sincere apology......all of that would seem justified. But immediate termination and essentially banning him from basketball employment for the rest of his life?
Has no one else ever made a stupid mistake that you regret? No one here has ever told a dumb racist joke.....or laughed at one? Ever said something offensive? Mistreated someone?
Just surprised me how quickly people go for blood. No room for mercy. No room for growth or change. Only punishment.

Again, I think this is very telling that it was a unique, out of character moment and even the accuser is not blaming DL for being racist.

Still not enough info but it feels a little over blown given this tweet post the interview with Elijah himself.

Again, if thats what he said, not good but far from being in character and deserving of a reprimand but a firing would go too far imho.

In fact, I think its an opportunity for Ryan Smith to help push a culture of anti-racism with DL leading the charge.

Then if EM thinks that, why did he tweet such a thing? Is he brain dead? What was his motivation?

 

[whatthe]

I don't think DL is racist. He doesn't have a history. But I think he is human. Maybe it was a heated argument. Can we allow someone hunanity/imperfection or is this so toxic which it might be?

 

[One Brow]

LOL! All I kept thinking reading this thread was that One Brow needed to join in with Cy. Where's Salty?

I appreciate it can be hard to keep track, but there are some pretty substantial differences between his take and mine.

 

[One Brow]

One. If the bad behavior merits a firing then atleast tell HR.

I think only one poster has deemed this to be a terminable offense.

 

[One Brow]

What they'll find is that old Elijah is in fact a racist and race baiter. It's sad really.

It's amazing how much people can reveal of themselves when they discuss the motivations of others.

 

[One Brow]

I agree with what you're saying, but at this point if it turns out he did say it, it would also mean that he lied about it, boldly, which makes it a lot worse.

Or, that he doesn't remember saying it, because it was not a deliberate act.

 

[framer]

Agreed but his motive does not seem to be resolving anything with DL. It was making a much broader comment about racism in general so it seems to me that he probably doesn't care about that relationship.

This is such ********. He called DL out by name because he wanted to hurt DL. It wasn't a "broader" comment. It was targeted.

Now, whether it was a valid attack, we will never know.

 

[Hornacekamania]

And for what its worth, even if someone was taking detailed notes and if that comment was made, it is not going to show up in the notes.

You would be surprised what gets recorded in non-public meeting transcripts.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Whatever actually happened, Elijah is right about the response. DL should have reached out to him instead of going full denial. This "notes" thing is obviously going to result in nothing because you're not going to document a racist comment. Unless you're Danny Ferry of course.

For me personally, it's not the best look for DL to outwardly call Elijah a liar. It would have been better to reach out to Elijah and hear his side of the story. I said this before, but being a nice well mannered guy really doesn't make me believe that DL could be incapable of this. If you've been on the receiving end of racist comments, you wouldn't be surprised that it came from someone who is powerful and "well respected".

My speculation is that both men believed they are telling the truth, perhaps there was a miscommunication.The best thing to do here was to solve with Elijah and put in the policies to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. Elijah's obviously not being malicious here. Why not hear him out?

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that for players in the league, it's probably not the best to meet these concerns with immediate denial and without reaching out. There are a lot of people here that seem to "believe" DL over Elijah for one reason or another. I bet there are a lot of players who find it much easier to believe Elijah, especially if they know him personally. There's a good chance that they've been told something sideways from a "well respected" person before.

Danny Ferry was very well respected. Didn't stop him from saying an outwardly racist comment on a conference call. Was about 6 years ago too, which says something about the league culture at the time. I said this earlier, most important thing is to make sure that the current culture doesn't allow this. Hopefully this doesn't turn into an endless he said she said thing and we get some positive change out of it.

Problem is if DL doesn't deny it and give it a "no comment" or says " I reached out to Elijah" then everyone assumes he said it. There is the possibility that he didn't say it and Millsap has some bad feelings about being cut here.

I remember young in my career I had been a key part of a group that was just killing it. In some face time with two of the managing partners of this big firm they were discussing things in a more blunt manner than they should have been they said that I was a "key cog in the practice, but that I was just one of the cogs". He probably thought it was a complement. What I heard was... "you are replaceable and if you think you should be paid more than anyone else at your level because of the wild success of your practice... well just remember that you are disposable and we will just get another you tomorrow."

I was ****ing lit... I had busted my *** and covered for a bunch of Senior Managers that were worthless and making 2-3x what I was. I decided to go talk to a couple other firms and the first one I talked with offer me double my current salary plus a generous bonus. I left obviously and my previous employer then tried to sue me.

Anyway... I got sidetracked. DL could have told Elijah to stop talking in a heated moment or he will cut him. And maybe DL said exactly what Millsap says he did... but these type of things can change over time. If someone asked me about my former employer and I was like "yeah those guys told me I was replaceable and completely invaluable". They might say they gave me a pep talk and told me I was a key part of a valuable machine. We both might be kinda right... and no one will know the whole truth.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

You would be surprised what gets recorded in non-public meeting transcripts.

If someone from HR was present (which happens) something like this could get noted for sure.

 

[TheGoldStandard]

There’s been debate in this thread regarding Elijah taking this public and not calling DL privately. I’m of the persuasion that I’m not going to take a hard stance on what’s the best approach to that situation for any particular individual, so I’ll acknowledge what’s well within someone’s rights if they’ve been wronged. But it would be a little odd to grant one individual being within their rights to take something public, but then scrutinize the way someone being accused responds in that same public venue on short notice.

I'd agree with you completely, except Elijah made the public statement that he was disappointed DL didn't reach out to him directly. It goes both ways, so if Elijah expected a direct interaction, rather than a public statement, he should have started the process the same way.