Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild became the first player to kneel for the U.S. national anthem in the National Hockey League (NHL) on Saturday night before the Chicago Blackhawks faced the Edmonton Oilers in Alberta, Canada.
Dumba, who is Canadian, was invited onto the ice for a special ceremony, walking down a red carpet and delivering a speech about racial justice. He knelt for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but stood for “O, Canada,” the Canadian anthem.
Matt Dumba (@matt_dumba) of the @mnwild kneels during the National Anthem. #WeSkateFor Equality pic.twitter.com/Sx6qWAbhUb
— NHL (@NHL) August 1, 2020
The scoreboard flashed a slogan with a hashtag: “We Skate for Black Lives.”
“During this pandemic, something unexpected, but long overdue, occurred,” Dumba said, during his speech. “The world woke up to the existence of systematic [sic] racism and how deeply rooted it is within our society.” – READ MORE
Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --