Fans don’t come to games for protests, but it’s OK to have some come for the racism?
When recently asked about NHL players showing solidarity with NFL athletes who protest police brutality and societal inequity, Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “I don’t think people come to games for that.”
At Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit yesterday when asked about player protests during the national anthem, he said, “I don’t think fans like to come for political rallies. There are other times to do that. We didn’t issue an edict or a rule, and virtually almost without exception, our players have been focused on being a team, serving their communities, and trying to win their games.”
Political rallies???
Since when has this morphed into a political rally? If Black people in America listened to when and what they were allowed to protest, we’d still be waiting for the advent of the Civil Rights Movement.
Here’s yet another example of the arrogance of White Privilege asserting itself, telling Black men when and where they’re allowed to speak up against issues that challenge their everyday humanity and existence
Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown, the lone player who took to raising his fist during the national anthem, recently announced he would no longer be doing so in order to raise awareness of police brutality, criminal justice issues and racial inequality.
But Brown says that he will continue to engage with law enforcement and that he raised a fist in part to show that issues “were not going unnoticed by the hockey community.”
Bettman made it clear that he’d prefer that any issues of protest should go unnoticed by the hockey community on game days.
That’s mighty white of him.
