Athletes do right thing by speaking up
Sports are usually a diversion for us, but now is a time they can make a real difference
WINNIPEG — Sports pages have always served as a diversion, a place where you can dive into stories that are meaningful to people, but are not normally particularly heavy in the grand scheme of things.
These days it’s hard to find words for a sports column because they feel trivial in a world that is beset by racism, a coronavirus pandemic, worldwide protests and the shocking strong-arm tactics of the government south of the border.
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the widespread protests that followed have been THE story in the world during the past week and a half and that includes the sports pages, as black athletes tell their stories of persecution and others try to come up with words to express their feelings at a time when humanity needs their voices.
We need to hear about how people like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Brandon Alexander and Willie Jefferson have experienced injustice, racial profiling and heavy-handedness by the police because they are black.
We need to hear what people like NHL captains Jonathan Toews and Blake Wheeler think, because they are men of influence. They are looked up to, especially by young people, and can make a difference with their words.
As it happens, Toews, of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Wheeler, who is captain of the Winnipeg Jets, were two of the most well spoken individuals in all of hockey on the subject.
They made real, passionate appeals for change and showed an understanding of what the deep-seated issues are.
It’s important that we all take the time to read these stories, to try to do what we can to make a difference and to comprehend the extent of the damage centuries of racism — north and south of the border — has inflicted.
Sports as we knew them before March 12, 2020, will return. We’ll be able to enjoy them, celebrate them, cheer for them the way we always did, eventually.
But now, in a time when all professional leagues are shut
down, is when sports can make a real difference. nnn
Wheeler can be prickly at times, especially after losses, is often short with the media and once told a columnist to F.O. after a particularly disheartening playoff defeat.
He’s different from other NHL captains in that way. You would not see that from some of the league’s best-known leaders, people like Toews, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and Connor McDavid.
But when it comes to speaking out about something much more important than hockey, something that is on the collective mind of the world, Wheeler is a true leader of humans.
“We have to be as involved in this as black athletes,” Wheeler said. “It can’t just be their fight. You can’t be silent anymore.”
Not everyone will agree that Wheeler is a perfect captain on the ice, in the dressing room or in front of post-game media scrums, but his words this week are something Winnipeg
should be proud of.
It’s horrifying to think what Khari Jones and his family went through when he was the star quarterback of the Blue Bombers. That he received death threats, which police took very seriously, while he was living in Winnipeg, is a terrible look for our city. That the media never got wind of it back in 2002 is stunning as well.
Some NHL players, like P.K. Subban and Patrice Bergeron, backed up their statements on racism and protests with hefty donations. Subban donated $50,000 to George Floyd’s sixyear-old daughter and the NHL matched it. Bergeron donated $25,000 each to the Boston branch of the NAACP and a multi-ethnic organization in Quebec.
It would be nice to see more of this type of action from millionaire athletes.
Being a sportswriter, who is not on the front lines, I just want to say I stand with my media brethren who are trying their best to report on the sometimes chaotic protests. They do not deserve to be tear-gassed, shot at with rubber bullets, hit with clubs, for trying to do a job.
Even if you don’t like the media outlet they work for, the individual reporters are just trying to bring the story to the people and it’s wrong that they’re in constant danger under a dangerous, wannabe-autocratic regime.