The Paradox of a Black Hockey Fan

Wherein Perrye has some thoughts.

NB: For those who know, the banner will be changed soon, lmao. 

Trigger Warning: racism

This piece has been in the works for weeks now. Honestly, I’ve been pushing back the publishing date because I didn’t know what angle I wanted to take. At some point, I realized that I didn’t want to write a pacifying piece or try to explain the racism in the sport and then spend time arguing about why people should care. I am not in my kumbaya era, and I will not pretend otherwise. Some people talk about those issues with much more patience and grace than I do. So instead, I’m choosing to talk about myself.

I stopped watching hockey in 2016 after P.K. Subban left Montreal. At the time, there was a lot of talk about how Marc Bergevin *allegedly* traded Subban for being a “locker room cancer.” Something that seems kind of ironic in hindsight given that he was willing to take on Tony DeAngelo on the Habs when the New York Rangers bought out his contract in 2021. Although many things have changed in the …