Hockey Diversity Alliance slams NHL/NHLPA announcement of Player Inclusion Coalition
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I Hate Philadelphia
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Whoa...wait...what?! I remember the first part (silliness). But I must have missed the second part -- was that actually demanded...?!
I always wonder why these "diversity" incentives perform racial discrimination. For example, even this one only supplied equipment to BIPOC youths from these at-risk/underserved communities. If you promote racial inclusivity, why are you yourself performing racial discrimination?
Perhaps my ideal of treating everyone equally regardless of race is just not realistic.
Perhaps my ideal of treating everyone equally regardless of race is just not realistic.
Bear of Bad News
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It's an incredibly naive way of looking at the world, and ignores quite a bit about society (including about your own ability to overcome your behavioral biases).
Fair points but how is the HDA any different. The org is made up of players who made millions playing the game as well.
Seems like just a couple of groups that are similarly positioned wanting ro do the same thing.
They didn't reject them out of hand. They listened to what they had to say negotiated with them in the beginning and couldn't come to an agreement. It happens.
The NHL already works with numerous groups like You can Play for instance so not really sure why you brought that up. So I'm not really sure what the actual issues are here other then two groups that don't see eye to eye.
It's also in their vested business interest to remove barriers and foster inclusivity in order to increase the number of league fans and grow revenue.
This HDA group sounds like a crook trying to blackmail into getting money.
Many groups in society require aid.
Well, for example HDA chair Akim Aliu is a first generation Nigerian-Ukrainian immigrant to Canada that made a decent pro hockey career despite his very untypical and less-than-privileged background. Without knowing him personally I think his is very much the kind of personal insight that a project like this needs (as one out of many). The problem with the NHLPA is that there such voices are singular at best, and easily ignored. The HDA may or may not have its own particular issues, but either way not many credible alternatives to it have emerged. If the HDA is not good enough then the other option should be do more and do better rather than do nothing.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
Did they? I don’t remember anything about the NHL negotiating with them. Can you link details?
As of Sept 2020 they were willing to work on the pilot project with the HDA as per this media release;
JOINT NHLPA/NHL ANTI-RACISM EFFORTS
"The NHL and NHLPA will work jointly with the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) to establish and administer a first-of-its-kind grassroots hockey development program to provide mentorship and skill development for BIPOC boys and girls in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Additionally, the parties have agreed to pursue a similar pilot program based in the U.S. that will be announced at a later date. These pilot programs will represent a unique opportunity to partner with the HDA to use the power of their representation to inspire the next generation."
Things fell apart a couple months after with the NHL not meeting the HDA's list of demands:
The Hockey Diversity Alliance splitting from the NHL is the best thing that could happen
The HDA slammed the NHL’s diversity initiatives as “performative public relations efforts.”
ftw.usatoday.com
So it was actually the HDA that ended the relationship.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
As of Sept 2020 they were willing to work on the pilot project with the HDA as per this media release;
JOINT NHLPA/NHL ANTI-RACISM EFFORTS
"The NHL and NHLPA will work jointly with the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) to establish and administer a first-of-its-kind grassroots hockey development program to provide mentorship and skill development for BIPOC boys and girls in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Additionally, the parties have agreed to pursue a similar pilot program based in the U.S. that will be announced at a later date. These pilot programs will represent a unique opportunity to partner with the HDA to use the power of their representation to inspire the next generation."
Things fell apart a couple months after with the NHL not meeting the HDA's list of demands:
The Hockey Diversity Alliance splitting from the NHL is the best thing that could happen
The HDA slammed the NHL’s diversity initiatives as “performative public relations efforts.”
So it was actually the HDA that ended the relationship.
I mean… reading the article that you linked:
“At the re-start of the NHL season this year, the HDA and the NHL seemed to be on somewhat stable ground and found a way to collaborate on an opening ceremony where the Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba took a knee. The NHL was happy to take a victory lap for that in the media, but, despite vague assurances that they looked forward to working further with the HDA, nothing else has come to fruition.”
“the HDA made clear that efforts were player lead and that the NHL had nothing to do with it. That same month, the HDA also released an extensive plan that included funding requests, hiring bench marks and grassroots initiatives for the NHL to take into consideration. In September, the NHL released their own diversity and inclusion action plan, that included few substantive initiatives and almost nothing from the HDA’s list of recommended actions, aside from a hockey clinic to be held in the Toronto area.”
“Currently, the NHL has made zero substantial progress on issues they announced they were committing themselves to last November. 10 months ago, the NHL promised an anonymous hotline would be set up to report abuse and there’s still no word on when or if that will happen. Last year, the NHL also said they were forming committees to probe deeper into hockey’s toxic culture. Again, almost a year later, there’s no word on whether those committees have even met yet. The NHL also has not returned multiple requests for comment and clarification on these issues.”
This is all consistent with HDA’s stance that the NHL wants these initiatives to be performative and media-driven, while costing little-to-nothing and avoiding anything resembling friction or discomfort from those who support the status quo. We saw that again with the jersey thing just recently.
- HDA is an activist organization. They might be abrasive or even misguided, but fundamentally their interest is in achieving progress on these issues.
- The NHL is a business. Their concern is the financial bottom line, and they appear to exploit social issues when it’s profitable only. They have consistently shown that their commitment to the issues is tepid at best.
- The NHLPA doesn’t have anything to do with this topic at all, they are a labor union. Their involvement is puzzling and appears to be performative.
Of course HDA is going to speak out against this alliance being the face of social activism in the sport.
Voight
#winning
Didn't stop Colin Kapernick.
I wasn't saying Iggy should be "the guy" but lets just say he took the HDA seriously and they had his backing, it would help their case. But obviously he disagrees with them, and I cant blame him given Aliu and Kane are the main guys. Not exactly widely respected dudes.
(I've read before Iggy said he never experienced racism in hockey tho given how greta of a guy he is I think if he saw potential in the HDA he would lend a hand)
What are you referring to here?
Because it’s vague enough to be open to interpretation and most of those interpretations are embarrassing. Currently giving you the benefit of the doubt.
I’ve never seen an organization struggle so much with alienating large parts of its fanbase. The NHL is truly unique.
The HDA sounds like a sad representation of LGBTQ+ people though.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
He said he felt he experienced less racism than some other guys have, but not zero, and he is very aware of how lucky he was to be in a supportive environment.
‘Things need to change’: Jarome Iginla opens up about race and his induction into the Hall of Fame
The former Flames star joins Grant Fuhr, Angela James and Willie O’Ree as the Hall of Fame's only other Black members
www.theglobeandmail.com
You are taking their side of the story at 100% face value. Their big issue is that the NHL wouldn't meet their demands and their demands were really aggressive, expensive and offered very little lead time to implement.
In the end the point is that the NHL didn't dismiss the org as you stated. They just couldn't find common ground to form a working relationship which has been my point the whole time.
Anyhow we aren't going to see eye to eye on this and thats fine.
Oftentimes it's better to focus on a more narrow set of objectives. Kaepernick's protest was more about social justice, and while that's also important there are surely better channels for it. I would even treat racial hatred as a separate issue and surely guys like Iginla or Byfuglien have their experiences there.
But when it comes to diversity in hockey, it's more about accessibility. Racial prejudices are a part of it, of course, but when a black kid from Ukraine joins a youth hockey team in Canada then the first obstacles don't necessarily have anything to do with skin color. I think we all know that cultural codes within hockey can be rather persistent, there's a certain way that a good Canadian boy is expected to present himself and if you behave differently then that can quickly become a problem leading to exclusion, at least off the ice if not on it. For many kids with recent immigration background it's not necessarily as much about something superficial like their skin color getting accepted than it is that they get accepted as who they are. Then there are also issues even less to do with explicit racism like minority kids oftentimes lacking the necessary social contacts and support which then robs them of opportunities and makes hockey inaccessible even if they have the talent and the passion.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I’m not, though — I’m quoting the article you posted, which is by columnist Hemal Jhaveri. She is a sportswriter who has no affiliation with HDA.
So they didn’t dismiss them, but they definitely didn’t negotiate with them either.
Even if you read the NHL’s own press release that you linked, under the heading of “anti-racism efforts” it’s just a list of staff trainings and “convening conversations” of various types. That’s great for addressing workplace discrimination in the league office (which… exists?) but it’s not grassroots work. The only grassroots effort that was ever on the table from the NHL centrally was a one-time hockey clinic in Toronto. As the USA Today article notes, the rest of their media-hyped activities never appeared to actually happen.
HDA had a specific list of actionable programs, and HDA has gone it alone to materially follow through on some of them. When they showed the NHL the price tag of what such an initiative would cost ($10M/yr to cover the startup of new hockey programs, operate new anti-racism initiatives, deploy an educational platform leaguewide, youth scholarships, executive training, and offsets for a diverse vendors program) the NHL didn’t negotiate. They didn’t even respond. They just stopped engaging with HDA and sat on the issue for 3 years until this recent rollout.
By the by, one thing that was nice about HDA’s public style of negotiation was that it left a paper trail. According to their original proposal, they set a goal of having 10% of the NHL’s non-hockey workforce be Black by summer 2023 (bearing in mind 13% of Americans and 4% of Canadians are Black). Well here we are in 2023 and according to the document that @Rabid Ranger posted upthread, the NHL’s total workforce is… 4% Black. But hilariously, they go out of their way to point to major gains (!!!) in diversity among their unpaid interns.
To their credit, the document does contain some evidence of action, even though it’s buried in a long list of employee trainings, roundtables, sponsor partnerships, CBA-mandated growth funding, social media advocacy, and other non-activity which amounts to a PR shell game. I see they finally got the Hotline up and running, made their ad materials more representative, and made some headway on changing their hiring practices. But the big investment ($5M, or 5% of what HDA estimated it would cost to hit actual metric goals) was in a series of recommendations by their Executive Inclusion Council. Here are the EIC’s recommendations for spending that $5M, summarized:
1) Have meetings to talk about diversity hiring that’s happening at the club level
2) Staff training. Also the complaint hotline exists now, and they’re contracting Deloitte to run that.
3) Hired Accenture to create “employee forums” to talk about culture.
4) Hired a VP and a social media coordinator to create multicultural marketing.
5) This one isn’t even about new action, tbh. Basically it just says sponsors are directing money to programs which visibly celebrate diversity.
6) Directing mandatory CBA growth funding more intentionally toward diversity efforts
7) Again this one doesn’t even attempt to talk about new investment, it just recaps already-existing efforts.
So in sum, it’s $5M for staff conversations, a complaint hotline, and two marketing employees to boost the league’s image with minorities. Everything else is either pre-existing, or occurring at the club level.
Wanna know why HDA is pissed off? This is why. This is the definition of performative corporate slacktivism, a self-interested marketing scheme that invests in the NHL’s image while pretending to invest in communities.
It is fine not to agree, but I think the conversation is valuable.
ORRFForever
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BigEezyE22
Continuing to not support HF.
I have no issues in having these conversations but imo if the NHL clubs are running their own grass routes programs/partnering with local orgs like the HDA in their areas of jurisdiction should they be required to kick in millions extra to run a program in the Toronto Maple Leaf's back yard? Should the HDA not approach the Leafs to partner with their foundation in addressing grass route inclusion efforts in their area of jurisdiction? Heck maybe the Leafs are already doing something and they can combine their efforts instead of duplicating things.
Also if they want to address grass routes issues they should be forming partnerships with those applicable leagues and associations first and foremost. At the end of the day the NHL has very little if any say or jurisdiction over those leagues.
What the NHL can do and enforce is behaviour at the NHL level. I think them getting their own house in order first and foremost should be step one. What's the saying you can't help anyone until you help yourself first. Seems like we are starting to see some movement there with more diversification in the hockey opps departments. Grier as a GM, Iginla a special assistant to GM. The many women now in management. Change happens but maybe too slow for some.
Another area the HDA and other groups should be working closely with is the the junior A and B leagues as well as the NCAA. A good number of formulative years happen at those levels and those levels aren't under the direct jurisdiction of the NHL. It's those leagues that need to be worked with to address the issues that happen at their levels.
.
Fair point but I think they serve a better purpose being on the outside looking in.
Machinehead
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Rob
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If I remember correctly I believe they wanted NHL arenas in the US to operate as voting centers on election day.
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