North American sports returning at the same time provides a litmus test on where leagues stand on social-justice issues. As donnovanbennett writes, if we’re grading on a curve, the NHL and the hockey community are falling behind the rest of the class.
The NHL did not respond to the above tweet. So, roughly 24 hours before the puck was dropped on the season, #Kneel4Hockey began trending on Twitter. A quick scroll through the hashtag produced a stream of fans, mostly white, kneeling while wearing their favourite team’s jersey. Most included captions with a call for the sport to do more to visibly fight racism and inequality so that hockey is actually for everyone.
To their credit, the team’s Scotiabank Arena neighbours, the Maple Leafs, have done and said more than most with Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan at the helm. The team wore Black Lives Matter shirts to work out, and the photo op made waves in the hockey world. The NHL is still trying to grow its audience in the U.S., so it can’t afford to rest on its laurels in terms of cultural inclusion and diversity. The league knows it needs to reach out to a broader range of customers, and existing BIPOC fans are extending the benefit of the doubt that change is something the NHL is motivated to see.
Shaming doesn’t lead to learning, so I’m not hating on the NHL. I’m expressing why I’m disappointed by the NHL.
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