Read on Twitter
So when athletes in other sports wear other things, they aren't looking "professional" nor being "good teammates"? https://twitter.com/seanshapiro/status/1285647948781682688
Again, it's not hard to connect the dots on how this mindset leads to hockey's diversity problem. Who gets to decide what looks "professional"? How does this affect players from other backgrounds who are forced to either conform to that standard or risk being a "disrupter"?
The pictures of Native American children being forced to assimilate into white culture are a staple of every US high school history class. And I'm not saying this is literally the same. But we have to consider who gets to set the standards for what "professional" looks like.
Maybe I'm speaking out of turn here, but I don't think white people appropriately consider the existential nightmare the slave trade caused. Slaves weren't just stripped of rights and freedom, but also culture and identity.
I’m going to stop here because Twitter is just not a good place to communicate the full extent of this topic. But I think people should think long and hard about the subjective nature of “professional character” and who historically got to decide what it looks and sounds like.
