The Athletic asked a group of voices in hockey to weigh in on the same four questions on race and hockey. The answers are what you’d hope: Insightful. In some cases raw. In every case, thought-provoking.

Why does hockey’s response to social justice issues often look different than other sports?

(Brock) McGillis: It comes from, in my opinion, the fact that since the age of 7, you’re sort of off to the side, in arenas, where most sports are played in schools, and you’re with the same 20 people who come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, predominantly Caucasian individuals. … Since they all look the same, dress the same, talk the same, they can get away with behaviors and attitudes that wouldn’t necessarily be condoned in society. None of this has ever been humanized for them. We’re seeing that in society as a whole and hockey is a microcosm of that, in White society, we’ve dehumanized Black people. Just like we’ve dehumanized LGBTQ+ people and trans people. There’s no feeling of, you don’t feel like it was you that was killed. And I think that’s the ultimate thing. Whereas the NBA players are sitting there and they see themselves in that Black man, they’ve likely experienced being racially profiled. They’ve experienced bigotry.

(Ray) Ferraro: Honestly, I thought Jason Dickinson’s question he answered (Wednesday) night is the reason why it often is different. You’re talking about a predominantly White sport with a lot of people playing it who have probably never come across the systematic racism that other people are talking about and other players in other leagues are talking about. For years it’s probably been an issue over there, wherever that is, as opposed to right here. Where it is now. And I would think that has a lot to do with the way the response has been reactive and not proactive.

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