‘It can’t just be their fight’: Why Blake Wheeler is speaking out against racism

Blake Wheeler’s first memory of overt racism in hockey came as a child.

It was in the handshake line after a game. One of his black teammates was the victim of abuse from the opposing team.

Wheeler doesn’t remember the details of the game; he just remembers how much it hurt his teammate.

“I just remember the pain — (him) crying and being upset and mad,” Wheeler said during a 45-minute Zoom call with the media on Tuesday. “And seeing how hurt that made him forever was burned into my brain. I was so sad for him, that somebody could say something to him to make him feel like that.”

As Wheeler grew older, he saw the impact of racism on NHL teammates like Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien.

He didn’t want to speak for either player on Tuesday out of respect for their real, lived experiences. He deferred to Kane and Byfuglien, along with other people of colour who have experienced racism directly, to convey their own feelings and speak their own stories.

But Wheeler did share full support for Kane’s outspoken statements against racism in hockey and in the world at large. He applauded Kane’s efforts to speak out against racism and noted Kane has done so since the two were teammates in Atlanta and Winnipeg. There is an empathy here.

Wheeler’s empathy is, of course, what led to the Zoom call in the first place.

One of the reasons so much of the world is talking about racism right now is the killing of George Floyd by a police officer, captured on video for the world to see. Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25 followed his arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. Floyd bore the weight of the officer’s knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The officer kept his knee to Floyd’s neck even after Floyd lost consciousness.

That Floyd’s death occurred less than two weeks after footage was leaked of Ahmaud Arbery’s killing in Glynn County, Ga., which brought violence against black people — and a lack of legal consequences for those who commit it — to the global forefront. Arbery was shot and killed on Feb. 23 by a white man who had followed him in his truck while he was jogging through a neighborhood. No arrests were made until May 7, two days after the video of Arbery’s killing was released.

Wheeler spoke out against both of those killings in a Twitter post on Saturday.

I needed to say something in my own words. pic.twitter.com/VpkidaMjbX

— Blake Wheeler (@BiggieFunke) May 31, 2020

“We need to stand with the black community and fundamentally change how the leadership in this country has dealt with racism. I’m sorry it has taken so long, but I’m hopeful that we can change this NOW. George Floyd’s life mattered. Ahmaud Arbery’s life mattered. So did every other life that has been lost by this senseless violence and racism.”

At the time Wheeler shared those words, he was one of just a few white NHL players to speak out against racism. He was the second NHL captain to do so in his own words; a day earlier, he became the league’s first captain to tweet on the topic by sharing a post from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

In the days that have followed, several more white NHL players have spoken out, including two of Wheeler’s teammates. Mark Scheifele took to Instagram on Saturday, where he quoted the Bible (Romans 12:9-10), offered prayers, and added: “We all have a responsibility to act. We are called to love one another and do what we must in order to pursue justice and equality. I cannot pretend to understand but, I can stand with them, learn from them, and offer my alliance.”

Jansen Harkins shared a message of support via an Instagram story.

This is what happens when people use large platforms to speak their values — the people who look up to them become emboldened and gain strength. They become more willing to speak their own values in turn. This is a natural side effect of leadership. Wherever the NHL is in its ongoing quest to make hockey for everyone and wherever the individual Winnipeg Jets are in their personal journeys in life, Wheeler’s words have created space to move in the right direction.

And let’s be clear: Wheeler isn’t known for being warm and fuzzy just for the sake of it. He’s speaking on these issues because they matter to him — not to score points or win social media followers. He shared that a big part of finding the words to say was simply blocking out what everyone else would think about him.

“Not to say that I all of a sudden flip the switch and just don’t care anymore,” he said. “But it matters more to me to say what I feel than it does to have a bunch of people think poorly about me for feeling this way.”

But words can only go so far. If racism is to be eradicated — in sport or in life — then thoughts and prayers must become concrete actions.

Wheeler conveyed this on Tuesday in a number of ways, starting with a call for white allies to support black athletes.

“We have to be as involved in this as black athletes,” Wheeler said. “It can’t just be their fight. When Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee during the national anthem and trying to do it in a peaceful way in 2016 and trying to raise awareness of this in a peaceful manner, unfortunately there wasn’t more (support).

“And I want to be real clear here. I look in the mirror about this before I look out at everyone else. I wish that I was more involved sooner than I was. I wish that it didn’t take me this long to get behind it in a meaningful way. But I guess what you can do is try to be better going forward. I want to be part of the change going forward. Whether that resonates with everyone, whether that spreads with everyone… I’m only one person, but I do have a small platform to try to promote this and promote change.”

There is a point in any conversation about sports-related “change,” whether it pertains to racism or any social issue, when cynical observers point out the obvious: OK, you’ve said some nice things. What are you going to do about it?

And, while I think that the sheer volume of white athletes speaking out about racism for the first time does imply a positive societal shift, I also think it’s important to discuss actions. The road from declaring “I’m against racism” and being anti-racist is longer than any hockey player’s social media post. Changing a system requires systemic changes.

This brings us to the most heartbreaking and most important moment of Wheeler’s call.

The hardest part of moving toward active anti-racism is doing real, personal work. And Wheeler’s commitment to looking in the mirror and starting his process within himself is not only admirable — it is a blueprint for others to follow.

Because social values start at home.

When asked about how he and his wife, Sam, are approaching discussions of race with their three children, Wheeler didn’t hold back: The Wheeler family is talking about racism at home. They’ve shown Floyd’s murder and the ensuing protests on TV to their kids and have started to have the difficult conversations that follow it.

Louie, their oldest, is 7 years old. He asks important, difficult questions.

“‘Why won’t he get off his neck? Why won’t he get off his neck?’” Wheeler shared. “And to have to explain that to him — to try to explain to him, to a 7-year-old, that the police that he feels are out there to protect us and look out for us, that that’s not always the case — that’s a hard conversation to have.

“Sam and I have talked, and it’s too bad that we’re not in Minneapolis. And clearly during a pandemic, too, our first responsibility is the safety of our kids. But we would’ve loved to take our family out to the protests to show them how powerful it can be and really what a beautiful thing it was, all the people coming together in our hometown. We talked about it a lot and showed them as much as we can to just try to continue that education and try to show them and really have it be imprinted in their mind that this is what it should look like.”

I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it is to explain violent, systemic racism to a 7 year old. But education research has shown that children whose parents talk to them about race show reduced racist attitudes as a result.

“I got a text from my dad two days ago and he was telling me — he grew up in Detroit — about the race riots in Detroit in the late ’60s, and he just said, ‘My generation didn’t get it right and hopefully yours does,’” Wheeler said. “I’m hopeful my generation and my kids’ generation fix this and get this country so that there’s brighter days ahead.”

To the extent that real, sustainable change starts at home, the difficult conversation that the Wheelers are having is making a meaningful difference.

And the fact that a private person like Wheeler is sharing his family’s story at all should not be lost. Maybe Wheeler’s willingness to do the work will inspire parents in the same way that his words inspired his teammates to speak out in turn.

“It was hard to talk about that and feel comfortable talking about it,” Wheeler said. “I think it’s something that over time we need to be more comfortable doing. We need to be OK voicing our opinion on this. I strongly feel that this has nothing to do with politics. You can vote for whoever you want. You can have your opinions about policy and Republican and Democrat, all that. But these are human rights, fundamentally.”

(Photo: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)