Something I Noticed Re: Certain Fans and Elijah Roberts

[Niagara Ice Puppies]

This season I was fortunate to get season tickets and have attended all but one home game. It's been really great and the fans have been really great, except for one thing that I noticed on multiple occassions over the course of the season.

That thing was casual racism directed towards Elijah Roberts from our own fans. Four seperate times to be exact and from what I can gather four different fans.

First though, what is casual racism? It refers to conduct involving negative sterotypes or prejudice about people on the basis of race, colour or ethnicity. Examples include jokes, off-hand comments and exclusion of people from social situations based on race. Unlike overt and intentional acts of racism, casual racism isn't often intended to cause offence or harm.

In all four cases this season it involved a fan loudly exclaiming "hey look there's PK" or "Come on PK let's go!" or variations of the like, referring to Roberts. This of course is referring to NHL defenceman PK Subban. I don't think I need to explain what the connotation they are going for here is.

The first time I heard it I was admittedly a little shocked and wasn't sure if I had heard what I did. But sure enough it was....in all instances the person was sitting mutliple rows back from me and the best I could do was turn around and look back in their general direction as I was never precisely sure who had said it. In the last instance, it came from a man and his two children sitting directly behind me. Wouldn't you have it the guys own kid (i'd estimate to be around 10) called him out not once, but twice, telling him it was both not funny and racist.

Why am I posting this? It isn't to call anyone out specifically and it isn't to make Ice Dogs fans look bad as we have tons of really amazing fans and this is such a small, small sampling and certianly does not represent the fanbase at large.

My intention was to make people aware of what they are saying and to think about what they are saying and how it effects people. It also shows that we as a soceity still have a very long way to go when it comes to acceptance. (If everything being shown in the media wasn't already enough.) If this only happened once I wouldn't have even brought it up, but the fact that it happened on multiple occassions from seemingly multiple different fans made me feel the need to get it off my chest.

Jokes at the expense of someone based on their race are NOT okay.

[NiceDawg]

There is no room for this behaviour here in the forum, in hockey specifically or in society generally. We are all part of the solution when intolerance attempts to become part of our world. Good on that kid for calling his father out, good on you for showing your disgust. Every little bit helps and shows that it's "not ok" .

[Niagara Ice Puppies]

Originally Posted by NiceDawg

There is no room for this behaviour here in the forum, in hockey specifically or in society generally. We are all part of the solution when intolerance attempts to become part of our world.

Very well said, agreed completely.

[Aircanuck]

There's been a bunch of times when Elijah Roberts goes end to end, that I'll call him young Bobby Orr; he can wheel with the best! I enjoy watching him tremendously and he has been an absolute wonderful guy to chat with.

Even though the comment you mentioned isn't motivated by hate, it is still quite ignorant and insensitive.
Our community is a bit behind as far as diversity goes and it is still a shame that people display this ignorance.
Good on you for bringing it up and discussing why it is an ignorant thing to do. I think we can all check ourselves as a society sometimes; posts like this do just that.

If you get the opportunity, check out this movie that examines racial issues in hockey, it's still making the rounds in screenings, but it will be available more in the near future:

https://www.soulonicemovie.com/videos
(just checked, it's on Itunes now)

Some nice stuff from Josh Ho-Sang in there. It's a real shame that at this point in our evolution we're still having this discussion though.

[three dog night]

I was wondering if their comparing to P K Subsn and do not know it can be racist some also have compared Thomas to Ho Sang.maybe without shouting it from the stands.

[Aircanuck]

Originally Posted by three dog night

I was wondering if their comparing to P K Subsn and do not know it can be racist some also have compared Thomas to Ho Sang.maybe without shouting it from the stands.

I wondered that same thing initially as well, but tones and delivery all count for something. I think if someone said "He reminds me a bit of Suban, when he steps up and leads the rush offensively", probably not a racially driven comment. Suban is famous player at the top of his game, so a comparison could be made by the average person without intended malice. However, the quote that was given and yelled, I think it's safe to assume the motivation behind it.

[Dogs Enthusiast 104]

Terrible. Just makes me angry.

[Niagara Ice Puppies]

Originally Posted by Aircanuck

There's been a bunch of times when Elijah Roberts goes end to end, that I'll call him young Bobby Orr; he can wheel with the best! I enjoy watching him tremendously and he has been an absolute wonderful guy to chat with.

Even though the comment you mentioned isn't motivated by hate, it is still quite ignorant and insensitive.
Our community is a bit behind as far as diversity goes and it is still a shame that people display this ignorance.
Good on you for bringing it up and discussing why it is an ignorant thing to do. I think we can all check ourselves as a society sometimes; posts like this do just that.

If you get the opportunity, check out this movie that examines racial issues in hockey, it's still making the rounds in screenings, but it will be available more in the near future:

https://www.soulonicemovie.com/videos
(just checked, it's on Itunes now)

Some nice stuff from Josh Ho-Sang in there. It's a real shame that at this point in our evolution we're still having this discussion though.

See now your comparison is clearly meant in a completely different context and absoloutely acceptable.
These other comments that I mentioned were driven out of, as you said, ignorance and I don't believe malice. I was so proud of the kid for speaking up when his dad said that, it made me feel good.

I really appreciate the link, I will definitely take the time to watch the movie.

[Niagara Ice Puppies]

Originally Posted by three dog night

I was wondering if their comparing to P K Subsn and do not know it can be racist some also have compared Thomas to Ho Sang.maybe without shouting it from the stands.

Interestingly I haven't heard anyone make any jokes or side comments about Akil.

[Niagara Ice Puppies]

Originally Posted by Aircanuck

I wondered that same thing initially as well, but tones and delivery all count for something. I think if someone said "He reminds me a bit of Suban, when he steps up and leads the rush offensively", probably not a racially driven comment.

Absoloutely, if it were said that way I wouldn't have even batted an eye. Context, phrasing and tone speak volumes.