Weekes on black representation in hockey

Interesting insights from Kevin Weekes, a former NHLer and a mainstay on both Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL Network. He was interviewed by Black Enterprise and aside from discussing his lifestyle apparel company, he was asked about race in hockey.

On why hockey lags behind other sports when it comes to black representation: "There are a lot of different factors. I think attitude is one of the biggest ones – our own perception of what we can do or what we can be. It starts with seeing yourself and identifying a goal within yourself beyond some of the external factors. And it’s not to mitigate the external factors at all. Some of it is socio-economic, some of it is geographic, some of it is cultural. There are tons of different factors. But when all is said and done, a lot of it comes from within. Sometimes we limit ourselves by saying ‘I look at myself on TV and I don’t see anyone that looks like me so I don’t want to do that.’ Both my mom and dad emigrated (to Toronto) from Barbados and I remember telling my parents about wanting to play hockey. My dad grew up playing cricket and fortunately didn’t have the mindset of ‘that’s not our game.’"

On making the sport more diverse than it is: "A lot of it starts with us. With the other professional sports, we made a push to aspire to play those sports. Basketball wasn’t always the most integrated sport when you go back to the 60s. But we made a push to challenge ourselves to love the game and aspire to play that game at the higher levels. We made a push to do it in tennis. We have the Williams sisters who came out of Compton, which people say is an impossibility. We have James Blake. You look at Golf. We have Tiger and some that came before him. Jackie Robinson in baseball. In football, there’s Jim Brown, who was a better lacrosse player than he was a football player. And we all know that lacrosse still isn’t a very integrated sport. That’s why I say it really starts with us and not gravitating to sports who players look like us, but rather gravitating to sports that you love."

Weekes was also asked about Seth Jones of the Nashville Predators and the NHL's efforts to promote diversity. A worthwhile read.

Source: Alan Hughes, Black Enterprise