John Terry's comments towards Anton Ferdinand were racist, insists the mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
The England defender was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
It was alleged that he maliciously called Queens Park Rangers defender Ferdinand a "f****** black c***" during a match on 23 October last year.
Asked by MPs about the race row, Doreen Lawrence said: "Regardless of the outcome of that judgment, I feel that his behaviour is something that should not be seen as anything more than a racist thing and that should have been addressed straight away and not left hanging for months.
"Young people still see him and hold him as one of their heroes and that's not right."
Stephen Lawrence's mother watched as the verdict was read out last week. She told MPs that she worried about his comments as he was a role model for many young people
Ms Lawrence sat in the public gallery during Terry's trial last week.
She spoke as she was giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee about the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Meanwhile, the race row surrounding the Terry case continues as police begin to investigate racist comments made against footballer Ashley Cole on social networking site Twitter days after his teammate was cleared.
A user, believed to be a man from the Derbyshire area, referred to Chelsea star Cole as a "choc ice" on the site.
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand then replied: "I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahaha!!"
Derbyshire Police said they are investigating the original Tweet after receiving complaints from members of the public.
The "choc ice" term is understood to mean "black on the outside, white on the inside".