“This should never happen. We are not a racist community. We believe in treating people with courtesy and respect as human beings,” Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller sounded off after the repulsive racial slurs spewed at OKC Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook. This memento should ring in the ears of every bigot around the world.

On March 11 against the Jazz, the Thunder came out victorious at the Vivint Smart Home Arena, but the defeat in Salt Lake City is not an excuse to holler at Westbrook after the game with expletive remarks. Shane Keisel, the Utah fan involved, claimed it was all in fun and it was reported that he said to Westbrook “get on your knees like you used to,” according to multiple sources.

The sports world is not exempt from discrimination from fans, especially during games. In the past, individual sporting leagues have dismissed prejudicial comments but have enforced consequences when it comes to physical altercations. Racism, verbal or violent, should receive consistent and regulated repercussions, no matter the setting. Comments of this magnitude should not be handled delicately simply because a fan paid for the seat. Whether nose bleed or court-side, foul comments and racism do not belong on the court or in the stands.

After all, this is each athletes profession. They work hard for the game, love to play it and sacrifice time with their families for it. The sport, moreover their jobs, is to bring entertainment to a fan base. Imagine coming into work and being berated by such lewd comments that professional athletes face on a night in-night out basis.

Shortly before the 2017 FIFA World Cup hosted in Russia, there were “monkey” comments by a Spanish opponent towards Morgan Gibbs-White, which were overheard and subsequently reported by England striker Rhian Brewster. Gibbs-White was fearful for him and his family to step onto another international field during the World Cup after these comments.

According to U.S. News, FIFA’s disciplinary panel decided that there was a “lack of sufficient evidence that could corroborate the English player’s claim,” solely on Brewster’s testimony.

For the past three years, there have been 137 reports of racism within the sports world, according to University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, and 52 of them occurred on our own playing fields. This was a sharp increase from the previous year, which was speckled with 79 international instances and 41 in the United States.

It is one thing to bash a player for a poor performance during a game, but attacking someone on a personal level is uncalled for in any arena, on any level.

Each sport has its own protocols towards racism and most of them do not identify verbal assaults under its banning guidelines. Each sport should curate a collective with representatives from each franchise to outline the rules and carry out actions to ensure that each situation is not lost in the shuffle and there is a definitive power in place.