The NHL community—players, teams and the league itself—are not known for commenting on political issues. The past week has been a sea change for a hockey culture that has long prided itself on being apolitical.
Now, white NHL players are openly using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, posting on social media about systemic racism, and joining their black teammates in calling out social injustice. It’s no longer just Evander Kane or Akim Aliu or J.T. Brown carrying the burden for the entire league.
In hockey circles, the conversation has centered around racism in the sport, but it is unchecked police brutality in the death of George Floyd that’s driving worldwide outrage. The NHL and players have so far centered their public remarks around racism and white privilege, but statements can only go so far.
As open discourse around these issues grow, the NHL faces a harder question. Namely, how, in the wake of police brutality protests, does the league plan to handle its existing relationship with law enforcement agencies?
The NHL, like every other sports league, has interwoven law enforcement appreciation into the fabric of its games. Police officers drop pucks, a Blue Lives Matter flag has been displayed on the ice during at least one NHL game, and almost ever team has a law enforcement appreciation night.
In the wake of Floyd’s death and the protests for police reform, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski asked Kim Davis, the NHL Executive Vice President of Social Impact, how the league plans to move forward with those relationships, considering the changed climate.
Artfully and carefully to answer your question, is how we’re going to use these relationships,” Davis said. “I think at this moment we have to be highly sensitized to the fact that people are feeling a great deal of tension in communities between the police—this is an institutional and systemic matter, not an individual matter. Right, this is not about individual people, this is not a good or bad, this is about systems. As we look to the resumption of play and ultimately being back in the stadium, we will all have to interrogate and investigate how we ensure that those relationships are continued to be perceived as positive in the way that we illuminate them, is perceived as positive as relative to these fans that are feeling compromised by police brutality.
Davis’ statement falls apart at the end there, because there’s no way to hold both sides of this issue. Supporting Black Lives Matter, as so many NHL players have said that they do, also means supporting aggressive police reforms. That sentiment does not go hand in hand with the blind appreciation teams and the NHL have shown for law enforcement agencies in the past.
That all begs a very difficult question of how players and teams will handle these situations moving forward. Will law enforcement appreciation nights continue? Are we headed for a round of “not all cops?” Are players going to shore up the “one bad apple” defense? Will they commit to easier, middle-of-the-road solutions, like 8 Can’t Wait? Will anyone start talking about defunding the police?
These are questions that are bound to make many players and team officials uncomfortable over the coming months and that’s a good thing. Privilege has long insulated players and the league from having to answer hard questions about their support of law enforcement agencies. Now that they’ve opened the door to further discussion, it’s time to walk through it.
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