Dehumanized and Dismissed: Bananas, the NHL, and the Rhetorics of White Racism

Dehumanized and Dismissed: Bananas, the NHL, and the Rhetorics of White Racism by David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
During arecent exhibition game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit RedWings, the larger history of racism within NHL and society at large showed itsugly head.  Held in London Ontario,a fan (or multiple fans) threw not one but two bananas at Wayne Simmonds.  One of the flying bananas in factreached the ice as Simmonds, one of 28 blacks playing in the NHL, skated in onthe goalie during a shoot-out.  "Idon't know if it had anything to do with the fact I'm black. I certainly hopenot," Simmondsnoted.  "When you'reblack, you kind of expect (racist) things. You learn to deal with it. I guessit's something I obviously have to deal with – being a black player playing apredominantly white sport."  Others connectedto the sport were not so willing (despite their having greater power andprivilege) to reflect on the racial realities and hostilities of the NHL inthis moment or elsewhere.  Whiledescribing it as a "stupid and ignorant action," Commissioner Gary Bettman madeclear that incident was "in no way representative of our fans or the people ofLondon, Ontario."  Maxine Talbot, ateammate of Simmonds, summarily dismissed the incident as "isolated" that saidlittle about the state of hockey: "It's not like there's a problem with racismin our league.  It's one person!" Dismissing it asan aberration and the work of some ignorant fans, the response fails to see thebroader history of the NHL, not to mention the larger racial issues atwork.  While Bettman and others soughtto isolate the incidence as the work of a single person who isn'trepresentative of hockey culture or society at large, others pointed to thepersistence of racism within the NHL. Kevin Weeks, who had a banana thrown at him during the 2002 Stanley CupPlayoffs, noted his lack of surprise that Simmonds was subjected to suchracism: "I'm not surprised. We have some people that still have their heads inthe sand and some people that don't necessarily want to evolve and aren'tnecessarily all that comfortable with the fact that the game is evolving."  Weeks is notalone here, withGlen McCurde, vice-president of membership service for HockeyCanada, contextualizing Simmonds' experience within a larger tension that hasresulted from the growing diversity of the NHL and Canada at large: "Werecognize there's a changing face of the population in Canada and hockey needsto change too.  We need to changetoo.  We need to ensure ourprograms are welcoming of all Canadians." Yet, this instance (among others) illustrates that both hockey andCanada itself are imagined through and protected of whiteness.  According to PeterDonnelly, the history of hockey is where "the sport has beencomfortable in its whiteness. Reflecting on the larger history of racism in the NHL, Weeks, McCurdie,and Donnelly situate this moment within a broader milieu of racism.  The incidentitself, the broaderhistory of the NHL, and the frequent practice of fans throwingbananas at black soccer players within the Europeanleagues (or the hurling of other racial epithets), however, wasunconvincing to many of the commenters that appeared below the ESPN article.  Focusing on the over sensitivity ofAfrican Americans, the lack of evidence of racial animus, and otherwise denyingthe importance of this incident through their insertion of "jokes" the collective reaction can be bestdescribed as both denial and dismal. In many ways the reaction to the sight of a fan throwing a banana at ablack athlete mirror the type of responses that followed the reports about ASUfans donning blackface during a football game.  These moments, as with other instancesof everyday instances of racism, have not led to sustained dialogues about thepersistence of racial violence within the public square or even efforts toeradicate the daily penetrations of racial hostilities, but instead efforts toisolate, deny, and dismiss, constructing these instances as minor issues atworst, one that has very little impact on society. Such a callousand simplistic understanding of racism is on full display with ThomasChatterton Williams' The Atlanticpiece, "RacismWithout Racists?"  Writingabout Oprah Winfrey and other middle-class (or upper-middle class) AfricanAmericans who have spoke out against daily confrontations of individualprejudices and systemic racism, Williams seems to dismiss the significance ofthese moments, reducing them to trivial and minor moments ofinconvenience.  "The loomingproblem in black America is not that Oprah Winfrey can't go to Hermès afterhours or that Dr. Alexander is being overlooked. The point of real concern, itseems to me, ought to be the significant and growing class divide within theblack community itself--the widening gap in opportunity and access thatseparates blacks who have educations and resources from those who do not.  Offering a very narrow construction ofracism that erases the connections and interdependence of racism, Williamscontinues with his argument:If we are fortunate enough to findourselves in or near that first category, it is our ethical obligation not toforget the sacrifice it took for us to get there. Beyond that, though, it'sdifficult to see what advantage can be gained trying to prove a negative orlamenting what cannot be known. And this much is certain: In a world wherethere's racism, whether with or without racists, living well--as all of thepeople under consideration here are clearly doing--is, and always will be, thebest and only revenge.What is strikingabout his discussion here is the concerted efforts to isolate themicro-aggressions, the white racial frames that emanate throughout society, andthe consequences of everyday racism. Individualize racism doesn't exists in avacuum but instead illustrates a larger history and ideological framework.  A fan throwing a banana at a blackplayer isn't merely an affront to the player, an example of individualizedracism, but a window into a larger history of racism inside and outside ofhockey.  It reflects the nature ofwhite supremacy; it embodies the ways in which racism dehumanizes blackness andimagines black bodies as both pathological and savage.  To deny theimportance of the systematic dehumanization of blackness, given itsconsequences, evidence by the state-sponsored murder of Troy Davis and thepersistence of the war on drugs, is troubling.  The everyday racism of white supremacy whether it be with fansthrowing bananas, college students donning blackface or attending ghettoparties, or the dissemination of racist jokes and epithets, is violent itself;yet, at another level, the constant intrusion of dehumanizing rhetorics,representations, and behaviors contributes to a process where both equality andfull citizenship for people of color remain a dream deferred.  ***David J. Leonardis Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and RaceStudies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary AfricanAmerican Cinema and the forthcoming AfterArtest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press). Leonard is a regularcontributor to NewBlackMan andblogs @ No Tsuris.