Stupid, ignorant, unacceptable and disgusting.

These are some of the words emerging from an ugly incident that took place in London, Ont., during a Sept. 22 NHL pre-season game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings.

But unlike much of the talk surrounding the hockey world these days, this had nothing to do with a vicious head shot or blindside hit.

This incident was much worse.

As newly-acquired Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds raced in on goal during his shootout attempt, a banana was thrown at him from a crowd member inside the John Labatt Centre.

On most occasions, this would mean nothing more than any other projectile flying down out of the hand of an obsessive fan.

But Wayne Simmonds is black.

Suddenly, an issue that Canadians assumed had no place in their favourite game jumped to the forefront of the hockey world.

“If it is dealt with publicly it gets people to talk about the issue and when you talk about the issue people start to understand it more,” said Smita Bharadia, Carleton’s squity services advisor. “It’s a moment in which we can address some of those concerns and we learn to deal with them. That’s important.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the NHL has been in this situation. Yet people like Christopher Moorhouse, who has been charged as the guilty party in the Simmonds case, don’t seem to be getting the message.

Former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes, who has gone on to become the first black broadcaster in the history of Hockey Night in Canada, was the target of the same racist act during the 2002 NHL playoffs, while his Hurricanes were in Montreal to take on the Canadiens.

For Carleton Ravens women’s hockey coach Shelley Coolidge, the onus is on professional players to spread the word and put an end to these acts of racism.

“If somebody is still throwing a banana in 2011, we’ve got so much work still to be done and our NHL players need to stand up. We’ve got some professional athletes that are incredible role models, but we’ve also got some that I think are a bit of passengers. They don’t take that extra hour a day or even hour a week to give back because they think they’ve gone beyond that now, they don’t need to give back.”

Coolidge said that little bit of work can go a very long way.

“Yet if they took that time, their voice carries so much further than somebody’s like my voice would carry. So, I mean come on, if you’re making over a million dollars a year, take a few more minutes and find a way to help spread messages that are going to make a difference in the world,” Coolidge said.

Check out part two of this story in next week’s issue of the Charlatan.

– With files from Maria Church