Historically, when a Black woman is one of the few in her vocation and calls out systemic issues, men, mostly white men, often utilize their platform to discredit them.
It’s a documented practice. In 1894 the New York Times described journalist/activist Ida B. Wells as a “slanderous and nasty-minded mulattress” for speaking out on the horrors of lynching.
Fast forward to present day and that practice continues.
Metropolitan Riveters defenseman Saroya Tinker, a Black woman, spoke up earlier this week and took the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) to task for their partnership with Barstool Sports.
“WE, as a league do not want support from ANY openly racist platform, Point blank,PERIOD,” wrote Tinker in her Twitter post. “If you,as the CEO cannot recognize that your platform promotes that of white supremacy & only further divides the athletic community, perhaps we need have a conversation. Pls keep your money.”
Saroya Tinker is one of the few Black NWHL players. She doesn’t have the extraordinary backing or influence wielded by WNBA players. Those players united and took the fight to former Georgia senator and Atlanta Dream co-owner, Kelly Loeffler, who quickly discovered the power of these women. But Tinker is facing off against a brand that’s prominent in both the NWHL and the NHL and has quickly become their target.
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, as is his norm, retaliated against Tinker through a video posted on Twitter, stating “You (Tinkler) should be thrown in jail for that.” This essentially opened the floodgates of hate and ridicule against Tinker, something his company traditionally relishes.
Tinker, a Yale hockey alumna who was the first NWHL player to kneel during the National Anthem, needs the support of those who want to see hockey evolve. Unfortunately, many of her colleagues, white women, won’t be coming to her defense.
So where does she find support?
Through groups like Black Girl Hockey Club. Through hockey fans, media outlets, Black and Brown communities and, hopefully, other athletes who learn of her fight.
WNBA players have long supported both social causes and their own. They influenced Loeffler’s pending sale of her ownership stake in the Atlanta Dream, stood proudly behind the Black Lives Matter movement, and founded a social justice focused initiative and council.
Saroya Tinker’s supporters should utilize that playbook to hold the NWHL accountable. They should unify to call out the racism that exists in the sport and the players who amplify it.
In the NHL, prominent players like Dallas Stars’ Tyler Seguin, Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews, and Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler have spoken out.
But the NHL, who proclaimed they aim to “Skate for Black Lives” publicly, have, unfortunately, folded like a U-Haul delivery box when pressured by the Hockey Diversity Alliance as Sports Illustrated reported.
Say it AND mean it.
These days, Black people demanding equality is often conflated with making others, mainly white people, feel uncomfortable.
Tinker’s teammates and fellow NWHLers who continue to cape for white supremacy can wear “End Racism” patches, pink kitty hats, and tweet “#BlackLivesMatter” all they want. Until they truly digest the context and emotions of Tinker’s words, it’s merely symbolic. If these people sincerely want change, they can’t support a brand that says their Black colleagues should be jailed for having an opinion.
Many white people see racism as a series of isolated incidents that materialize occasionally and not as an everyday occurrence. Some of them are the same individuals who call the cops on Black people for merely existing. When it comes to these fans and players, can we expect them to do the right thing when it comes to hockey?
When the incident erupted, the NWHL responded. Yet a lot of what they do is merely performative.
“The National Women’s Hockey League supports every player, coach, and staff member in any peaceful action they may decide to take in the fight against racism,” said NWHL Commissioner Tyler Tumminia in a statement. “… We are united with the players on this initiative and everything that NWHL teams and players do for equality and representation. Make no mistake: hockey has a long way to go, and we will continue to do the work.”
Same goes for the league’s players’ union, who sent out a culturally-deficient tweet.
“This is bigger than hockey, this has sparked days of conversation, mediation, and reflection. Now more than ever the NWHLPA is focused internally on supporting its athletes. We are proud to work alongside the @NWHL and stand firmly with our athletes.”
These statements seem empty knowing what’s transpired over the past several years.
In May 2020, Tinker said as much when she tweeted about her experiences of being the only Black woman in hockey spaces:
“… additionally, because some of my former teammates lack the understanding of the African American community and that of white supremacy, they often fail to recognize that the ideology underlying racist practices often include the idea that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different due to their social behavior and their innate capacities, as well as the idea that they can be ranked inferior or superior. In this case, I am, and always will be, inferior to my White teammates.”
Tinker, who’s upsetting the natural order of hockey, seems to know a finesse when she sees it. And that seems to be the rub when Black women remove themselves from white spaces due to a lack of support.
Many white people claim not to know. It’s easier to claim plausible deniability instead of questioning the institutions they cling to.
So Saroya Tinker is in for a fight. But from everything we’ve seen from her, she won’t be backing down.
Hopefully, more will learn about her story and come to her defense. It would be nice to have a Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) type of group backing her up. Or better yet, her white teammates and all of her NWHL colleagues.
Until that happens, it appears that hockey isn’t for everyone.
