Enough

The past several months have been a lifetime for all of us. A confluence of events and catastrophes have conspired to cause societal upheavals and rip open scars that have never healed.

As the #COVID19 began closing sport down in February of this year, The National Hockey League began hosting virtual town halls with players. and one of those was with the The New York Rangers’ hosted K’Andre Miller on Apr. 3rd, 2020.  The conference call was held on a video platform and was hacked into by a racist who spewed venom and hate toward Miller, a black Rangers prospect.

I was not part of the call, I did not personally experience the attack or Miller’s reaction. We did not stay silent on the event though and Pro Hockey News did have something to say the same day, and the next. Our response was neither tepid nor filled with outrage.

I do recall, and still feel, the sense of being brokenhearted that the sport I have loved since I was eight had been stained by this level of hate.  To be clear, this was not the first incident and sadly it will not be the last.

If I was brokenhearted in April, May and June picked up the pieces and melted them down into a paste and threw them in the local landfill.  Dropping racist name calling on video calls simply broke the string of murders of unarmed black men in America.

I fancy myself a musician of sorts and follow several musicians and instrument makers online.  One of them is Josh Scott of JHS Pedals.  In early June, Josh posted a video, not about music, but about the senseless killing of black men in America. He talked about how it hurt his heart and about how he remained silent.  The pain was in his voice and cadence his mouth obviously dry from the emotion and passion.

At the same time, I have communicated often with a friend on social media.  The pain, anguish and anger in his voice online is palpable over the distance. As a black man, he has experienced the hate and racism that the rest many of us see only from a distance.  As Josh Scott said in his video, he wants to be known as a student, and could not agree more.

I am a virologist, a hockey fan and musician, but I want to be a student who listens, learns and reacts appropriately and with support in the face of racism. Josh Scott’s video compelled me to think about my own response. My interactions with Roobert over social media have compelled me to speak.

Pro Hockey News has not and will not tolerate any level of racism on its pages. EVER!

Silence is as much acceptance as is full throated chants. Simply reporting without commentary is implicit.

I am done having a broken heart and hurt soul.

I am too old to hold my tongue any longer.

I am too privileged to be silent.

I am discouraged by the divisions in race, ethnicity and religion we face.

Pro Hockey News will listen and we will learn.

Publisher’s Note about the artist: I have been privileged to Robbert Copper for a number of years now.  As much as two people can call each other friends off virtual social media relationships, we are friends.  And I am glad to call him that.  I asked prevailed upon Robbert, an exceptional artist, to craft an image of hockey that would speak to hockey and our society and what Black Lives Matter means to him living in America.  Robbert sees football as an American sport and hockey needs to move closer to that paradigm.

You can find Robbert on Twitter @Copperr1, he’s someone I have leaned on to set me right on some topics and I thank him for taking a spin through this piece before I posted it.