Yes, the Bruins Denounce Twitter Hate
According to USA Today, the Boston Bruins organization quickly moved to denounce the racist tweets that surfaced in 2014 when Canadien PK Subban scored a winning goal against the black and gold in overtime. Bruins denounce Twitter hate? Good.
Cam Neely Said…
In a statement, Bruins President Cam Neely said, “The racist, classless views expressed by an ignorant group of individuals following Thursday’s game via digital media are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization.”
Twitter can be, I feel, a wonderful medium. But it also has a capacity for speedy publication of half-thoughts. It seems, sometimes, to be a nearly perfect medium for rapid fire hate speech.
What, if anything, can any of us do? How could you prevent something such as this incident in the future?
Angry Sports Fans
Subban was the target because of his race. Certainly Bruins fans were angry about their team’s unsatisfactory outcome. Yet the response was absolutely and completely out of proportion to the offence. In fact, it was thoroughly beyond the pale. Disappointed sports fans of course have the freedom to speak their minds. There is really no law or rule against becoming emotional, or even incensed.
Many, many sports fans have perhaps overly deep emotional investments in their beloved teams. But this was different. In this instance, fans set Subban apart, isolated, and attacked him for not the color of his jersey, no. Instead, Subban was the subject of Twitter fury due to the color of his skin.
What did Martin Luther King say? That he had a dream that, someday, his children would be judged. Not for the color of their skin, but for the content of their character. Unfortunately, that day is not quite here yet, it seems.
Takeaways: Bruins Denounce Twitter Hate, Now and Back Then
What do YOU think?
Oh, and nine years later? If anything, things are somewhat worse. And in some parts of the country and the world, they are much, much worse. This kerfuffle almost seems quaint now, eh?