Blackhawks acknowledge Matt Dumba, HDA amidst bad times

Before their game on the 21st of January, the Chicago Blackhawks did an amazing thing and acknowledged Matt Dumba for his work with the Hockey Diversity Alliance.

This was the second time that the Blackhawks had been a part of recognition for Dumba’s work in regards to the HDA. He was acknowledged before a qualifier game in the playoff bubble in 2020.

The HDA was created in June of 2020 as a part of ending systemic racism in hockey as a whole. They have worked side-by-side with the NHL and its affiliate leagues as part of the “Hockey is For Everyone” campaign.

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The Chicago Blackhawks are doing their part in helping a very important issue.

However, this movement is thwarted when racism seeps into the game, as it had recently in the AHL and ECHL. During a break in the action of the 2nd period between the San Jose Barracuda and the Tucson Roadrunners, Barracuda forward Krysof Hrabik made a racist gesture to Tucson forward Bokondji Imama.

Imama tweeted after the game “Enough is Enough” as well as a picture of a note that read:

"“Even though I believe the sport has made positive strides, We still have a long way to go to educate the ignorant and to make hockey a safe place for everyone.”"

The Barracuda issued an apology to Bokondji. While making a step in the right direction and taking accountability for the action, the Barracuda did not directly take accountability for the actions of their player.

Less than a week later, an incident in an ECHL game between the Jacksonville Icemen and the South Carolina Stingrays went viral. It happened when it was tweeted by New Jersey Devils defenseman PK Subban, whose younger brother Jordan had been the victim of a supposed racist gesture from Jacob Panetta.

Controversy has sparked amidst Panetta’s response to the incident as he claims he was not attempting to make a racist gesture.

The Icemen did release a statement but did not condemn Panetta, nor thoroughly acknowledge the incident. Instead, they went the route of noting the ability to learn about and support anti-racism in the game of hockey. Both Panetta and Hrabik were promptly suspended for the remainder of the season.

Incidents like these contradict the work of Dumba and the countless other members and supporters of the HDA and “Hockey is for Everyone”. In order to truly grow the game, things like these need to be avoided and need to be condemned more thoroughly by the organizations of the attackers.