The Mixon video in a throw away world
After viewing the Joe Mixon video I find myself joining the chorus of those who believe he should never have played a down of Oklahoma football afterward; and question the decision made by OU officials to suspend him for only a year.
But, unlike some of those who have expressed the same opinions on social media, I don’t feel good about taking that position at all.
Here is why (and I’m sure many reading this aren’t going to like it):
There is evidence the victim of this assault and battery provoked or instigated the incident by making racist remarks toward Mixon. She also slapped him first. Pointing that out, which is important to put the incident in context, doesn’t mean I condone his awful response, which was disproportionate and illegal violence, and doesn’t mean I’m blaming the victim. (I’ll rankle some feathers more and disagree with many of my women friends who want to bundle this up into the problem of domestic violence. It wasn’t. Neither knew each other.)
Instead, this was an 18-year-old black male who had never even practiced with the Oklahoma football team or attended a class when he over-reacted violently to taunting by a white girl who decided to announce her perceived superiority over Mixon by using the N word toward him. I don’t know if that had ever happened to him growing up in liberal Bay Area California. It was certainly a sad introduction to the racist and redneck mentality of a large part of Oklahoma.