I wish I could say it surprised me
Apr. 28th, 2012 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missizzyAs I said in my last entry, it was very satisfying to see Tim Thomas get scored on by the black player; I'd actually been hoping Joel Ward would pull that off the entire series. But as soon as I found out it had happened, I had a pretty good idea of how at least a section of Bruins fans would react. Sure enough, at least one tumblr on my following had expressed their horror at some of the tweets before I went to bed, and by the time I got up Friday morning it was to read the headlines.
Most of the blogs and articles are skirting around the truth about it, of course, that's not just Ward, it's not just the playoffs, it's not just hockey, and it's certainly not just Bruins fans. I don't see this as a reflection at all of the Bruins fanbase in particular. Had that game ended with a black Bruins player scoring on Holtby, I have no illusions on how those fans that call a certain captain "Cindy" would've reacted. It's that we never got rid of racism in way too much of the U.S. population, and now that we've got a black president, they're no longer willing to be quiet about it. It's the impetus behind the Tea Party too; the media way not be willing to see that, but at times it becomes very obvious. Tim Thomas may claim his motives for decrying Obama are non-racial, and they may even genuinely be(or he may have convinced himself they are). But that does not change that he is supporting a racist cause.
Ward is still the man of the hour, but I worry about what will happen should he now go back to playing badly. They'll get after him however they can, and he's indicated that while he can ignore simple racism, some of the comments about his game this season have gotten to him. The racism won't go away if we all continue ignoring it, and I don't know if this is over yet.
Most of the blogs and articles are skirting around the truth about it, of course, that's not just Ward, it's not just the playoffs, it's not just hockey, and it's certainly not just Bruins fans. I don't see this as a reflection at all of the Bruins fanbase in particular. Had that game ended with a black Bruins player scoring on Holtby, I have no illusions on how those fans that call a certain captain "Cindy" would've reacted. It's that we never got rid of racism in way too much of the U.S. population, and now that we've got a black president, they're no longer willing to be quiet about it. It's the impetus behind the Tea Party too; the media way not be willing to see that, but at times it becomes very obvious. Tim Thomas may claim his motives for decrying Obama are non-racial, and they may even genuinely be(or he may have convinced himself they are). But that does not change that he is supporting a racist cause.
Ward is still the man of the hour, but I worry about what will happen should he now go back to playing badly. They'll get after him however they can, and he's indicated that while he can ignore simple racism, some of the comments about his game this season have gotten to him. The racism won't go away if we all continue ignoring it, and I don't know if this is over yet.
