ATHLETES SPEAKING OUT AGAINST INJUSTICE
Seldom do sports writers have a reason to quote a hockey player so extensively
Early in 2017, not long after the inauguration of Donald S. Trump, this seasoned sports scribe had the temerity to eviscerate the President of the United States.
“Stick to sports” was the reflexive response.
See also: “Stay in your lane.” One admirer cooed that he had cancelled his subscription — whereupon, one presumes, he put a bag over his head and continued to long for the good ol’ days when sports commentators seldom, if ever, strayed far beyond the score, florid tributes to the principal performers, and perhaps a sympathetic “get ’em next time, fellas.”
Now, as a consequence of COVID -19, the world in which we live is largely devoid of sports.
Yet, sporting figures are stepping up more than ever.
They aren’t sticking to sports, but instead using the platform and influence provided by games people play to raise awareness about the blight that is racial injustice.
Even professional hockey players, who rarely deviate from the “get pucks deep” script, are speaking out.
Consider the words of a black professional athlete — Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks — who implored white stars to make their sentiments known.
“We need so many more athletes that don’t look like me speaking out about this, having the same amount of outrage that I have inside — and using that to voice their opinion, to voice their frustration. Because that’s the only way it’s going to change,” Kane told ESPN’S First Take on Friday.
“We’ve been outraged for hundreds of years and nothing’s changed. It’s time for guys like Tom Brady and Sidney Crosby and those type of figures to speak up about what is right and, clearly in this case, what is unbelievably wrong. Because that’s the only way we’re going to actually create, unify anger to create that necessary change. Especially when you talk about systematic racism.”
Kane’s former Winnipeg Jets teammate, captain Blake Wheeler, certainly took notice.
“We have to be as involved in this as black athletes,” Wheeler said during a 40-minute conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “It can’t just be their fight.”
Wheeler hails from Plymouth, Minn., near Minneapolis — the city in which an unarmed black man, George Floyd, died May 25 while in police custody.
A white police officer, who has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, had held a knee against Floyd’s throat in his final minutes. Floyd, who was suspected to have passed a counterfeit $20 bill, was in handcuffs at the time.
Widespread protests have resulted.
“I think the most positive things that have come out of this have been police officers joining in protest or walking with protesters or hugging them,” Wheeler said. “Those are the types of things that we need more of.
“If we can have the police acknowledging the pain that people are going through and sort of latching on to that and embracing it, I think that’s a step in the right direction.
“And I think that hopefully the violence can start to subside and we can start turning the page and try to look forward to the next step in making this a positive movement and one that holds, that sticks, that truly changes things.”
Wheeler added: “They say two wrongs don’t make a right. Using force and using violence is just promoting more violence, in my opinion. I think there needs to be more empathy, more love, and more compassion for one another. We can start moving forward.”
Seldom is there cause to quote a hockey player, or any athlete, so extensively.
Much of what is uttered after games or practices is sheer Pablum, but we in the sports media generally lap it up like free pizza, anyway.
It is a real eye-opener, then, when you see a substantial quote such as Wheeler’s expansive and thoughtful reply to a question that had nothing to do with sports and everything to do with humanity, decency and conscience.
The discussion is about far more than, say, why the power play is sputtering. Athletes, who are role models regardless of whether they embrace or even acknowledge the role, have the power to influence people. Now, en masse, they have the inclination as well.
“I look in the mirror about this before I look out at everyone else,” Wheeler said. “I wish that I was more involved sooner than I was.
“I wish it didn’t take me this long to get behind it in a meaningful way. But I guess what you can do is try to be better going forward.”
So can we all — especially those of us who cannot pretend to understand what it is like to deal with racism and irrational hatred.
A window into that world was opened on the weekend when Saskatchewan Roughriders middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian posted a letter in which he detailed his experiences.
“I recall riding as a passenger with my best friend in Los Angeles where we were pulled over by the police who had their guns drawn,” Elimimian wrote. “We were roughed up, handcuffed, harassed and humiliated as we sat on the curb and treated like criminals while my friend’s car was searched.
“When asked why we were being detained, the only reason given was that ‘we fit the description of a crime committed.’
“I would hear this phrase many times during my encounters with the police in Los Angeles. As I reflect upon that time, I chose to accept this injustice because I wanted to make it home alive, but perhaps more troubling is that I came to accept these racist and humiliating interactions with police and others as normal.”
Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo subsequently went on Twitter and wrote, in part: “As a white male I will never know what it is like to live as a (person of colour) nor will I ever pretend to know how it truly feels.”
That comment, along with the thoughtful words of Elimimian, were published under my byline in a Regina Leader-post article that elicited the following response from one reader: “Printing stuff like this is not helpful to normal people.”
The use of “normal people” is another reminder of why people need to speak out against categorization and prejudice.
It’s enough to make you miss “stick to sports.”
I think there needs to be more empathy, more love, and more compassion for one another. We can start moving forward.