Robin Perez,
San Francisco, CA
As a young kid, I never thought of getting into hockey as I had always known it to be a so-called “white sport” that disinterested people of color. I would later find this to be more of an oppressive statement than I would realize, as it is used to exclude people of color from participating and enjoying the sport, as well as a way to normalize the lack of interest and exclusion while influencing the apathy towards hockey among people of color. It’s like saying, “They don’t like it, that’s why they don’t participate or play”, when it’s actually that people of color have been told not to like it, and have grown up feeling animosity towards the sport, because of having the feeling of not being accepted or allowed to participate, and even to the extent of being shamed by other people of color when they do tend to show interest towards it. I love hockey. Go Sharks!
