In the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting, the NHL will hold a moment of reflection before tonight's Tampa/Boston game in Toronto and tonight's Colorado/Dallas game in Edmonton.
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This is not the end.
Photo credit: @NHL on Twitter
Aug 29, 2020, 16:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 29, 2020, 18:25 EDT
Saturday August 29th at 12:30pm.
The day and time the NHL is officially back in action. Let me tell you why we shouldn’t be rushing to forget the events of the past three days.
Before I get into that, I ask that you folks take some time to read this piece by Omar from Pension Plan Puppets, as well as this open letter to the NHL by Matthew Henriques, if you haven’t already.
These past couple days have been a lot in the hockey world.
From a lack of action from the league and players the day sports took a pause. Excuses of napping or not enough time to plan for a stop, even though there were hours from when the Bucks didn’t take the court to the Tampa/Boston game. Some folks are in a bubble both literally and figuratively. Re: Alain Vigneault
It caused an uproar which then phased into a moment of reflection.
Mind you this moment of reflection only lasted about 33 seconds.
Here’s the NHL moment of reflection for Jacob Blake before playing tonight’s playoff game between Boston and Tampa Bay. @hockeynight @cbcsports
And it wasn’t even carried over into the Dallas/Colorado game.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 they couldn’t even be consistent with that
There was no "moment of reflection" before the Stars-Avs game.
The lack of consistency and lack of simple care brought upon a boycott by fans,
The NHL may not boycott games tonight but we have a platform as a community of fans. I encourage everyone to share this message and refrain from watching the Dallas-Colorado game tonight to send a message to the NHL about the values of its viewers! #NHL
please. stop watching hockey tonight, please. consider what it'll mean if you just don't watch. it'll fine if you miss one game
We will not be watching nor tweeting about the Avalanche game tonight. This moment is bigger than sports and we recognize that. As always #BlackLivesMatter
y'all better not be live tweeting tonight. if you're watching this game keep that shit to yourself and read the room
And more recently an actual player strike.
Ryan Reaves speaks up for change.
Players decision
BREAKING: NHL may cancel its Thursday slate of playoff games. 🏒 thesco.re/31xgir1
This must be clear! This is not a league mandated action this has been solely driven by its PLAYERS and damn I’m proud to stand with them! ✊🏾
We saw growth. We saw accountability and we saw true allyship.
Today the players of the NHL playoff bubble became allies. In a time of professional opportunity, they chose to put their athletic goals aside and stand up for the greater good.
wow...they're ACTUALLY learning
"We want to make sure we keep the attention and conversation around the issues." @tblightning Braydon Coburn insisted he wanted to keep conversation on social issues instead of games.
Allowing the HDA the space to educate across the board is an amazing feat and a great way to start. Having said that, the onus should not always be on Black folks and PoC to teach you. It can be extremely exhausting. In this context though, I truly believe it was the right thing to do. It helped to keep the conversation going.
On Sportsnet right now, they’re having a conversation about racial justice with panelists from a variety of sports and ethnic backgrounds. This is why not playing matters. Without sports, we’re forced to have these tough but important conversations, in this case even broadcasted
Nazem Kadri: "Moving forward, it’s going to have to be the whole league. Collectively. Not just one or two guys."
While what we saw was groundbreaking for the NHL, it was not nearly enough.
Kayla Grey puts it perfectly when she asks if the NHL is here to stay:
The NHL is hella late to the party so it more than fair to ask if they are here to stay.
This thread dives into the reactions of team socials after the player strike was confirmed.
And 1 team - Seattle - has a statement that specifically mentions Blake and also include a page of links to encourage further education and action. The statement does not mention police. So, 32 teams, 25 (and this is generous, it's really 23) statements, zero mentions of police.
It’s not the most promising.
Sam Carchidi does a great job of erasing the work put in at media availability.
"Can you guys forget about all the social issues for a minute and just focus on hockey" Fucking woof. A really, really bad look for @BroadStBull who sincerely does not understand what the players are doing nor what is happening in the world.
I said it in a tweet and I’ll say it again. The fact that someone, in this case Carchidi, tried to ask a question related to hockey in a time where the players did not want to talk about hockey is a problem. Talk about hockey at morning skate the next day, DO NOT talk about hockey in the two days that players are trying to bring attention to the social injustices of the world.
The President of the Vegas PD Police Union voices his disappointment in the team’s actions.
President of union representing @LVMPD officers sends letter to @GoldenKnights to express disappointment in players’ position after the shooting of Jacob Blake. Says it appears they’d “rather jump on the bandwagon of attacking the police profession” instead of waiting for facts.
The Dallas Stars losing big name clients after Dickinson and Seguin first kneeled.
This is not the end. We are nowhere near it for that matter. The NHL and the hockey community have a lot of work to do. I urge you all to continue to do the research, educate yourselves, have these conversations with your family and friends. Do not be a bystander, it only causes more pain in the end. If you have privilege whether that be because of the white of your skin, or because you are a cis man in this society based on the patriarchy. Use that privilege to uplift the voices of the BIPOC that otherwise would not have a platform. Do not take up space, but rather make space for us to speak our truth and our lives experiences. Put in the work so you can be an ally. And remember, the word ally is not a noun. It is a verb in every sense of the word. It is not a title to be claimed, but instead it is an honour that is given to you by folks in marginalized communities. Take that honour with grace, with drive and determination so that we can keep fighting the good fight. Anti-Black racism and racism as a whole will not be eradicated in a day, it takes time, hard work and dedication to the cause.
It’s a movement, not a moment.
This is only the beginning.
#BlackLivesMatter
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