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Racism Rears Its Ugly Head In The Givani Smith Incident

05/09/2018 at 5:53pm EDT

from Curtis Rush of the New York Times,

The troubling incident rocketed around the hockey world: Givani Smith, a black player in a top junior league, needed a police escort to a recent playoff game after online threats and racist taunts from fans.

Smith, 20, a forward with the Kitchener Rangers and a Detroit Red Wings prospect, is one of only about a dozen black players among the roughly 500 players in the Ontario Hockey League, one of three major junior hockey leagues in Canada for players ages 16 to 20 who often go on to N.H.L. careers.

For decades, black hockey players at all levels have experienced incidents of racial abuse. “A lot of players of color go through this,” Smith’s agent, G.P. Daniele of TPG Hockey, lamented. “It’s almost par for the course. It’s unfortunate.”

But the level of abuse directed at Smith so concerned the O.H.L. commissioner, David Branch, that he requested the police escort, a move he had not felt obligated to take before....

“Obviously, it’s disgusting that people do that to another human being,” Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland said. “We support Givani. He’s a tremendous young man. We think he’s a really good prospect for us. He had a tremendous playoff. It’s about what you do on the ice. He’s a committed athlete, and we’re thrilled to have him in our organization. We’ve talked to him since the incident and made sure he understands we’re there to support him.”

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