Kids Speak Their Mind About Race Laura Latterell

Kids Speak Their Mind About Race

            The inspirational video “Kids Speak Their Mind About Race” can be found on YouTube. It is great video that shows us children perspective and thoughts on racism. We learn what children have to say about racism and how it effects their lives at school at home and in the society. It seems from the video that racism is a taught thing that children learn from their parents. Many of the children do not agree with racism but say they have to follow what their parents say about racism and they are not allowed to play with the minority children, or the minority children are not allowed to play with the white kids. It is a very eye opening video, and a great way to hear what kids have to say. It was heart breaking to hear about some of these children’s experiences with racism.

            The question I have is how is racism showed in children’s sports, such as hockey? Because if children experience so much racism in schools and at homes there must be racism seen in sports that they play. Especially hockey because it is a very white dominant sport. Has there been any recorded events of race issues in children’s hockey?

            When we look into these questions it does show that there are a lot of race issues in sport, including hockey. But there are not that many serious issues in children’s sport. On bleacherreport.com we learn that there are a lot of inner city minorities that have dreams about playing in the NHL or playing on college hockey teams when they get older. One young girl “Katherine was also positive about her future plans involving hockey. When asked if she plans to play college hockey and to somehow make it into the NHL, she responded with an adamant, ‘Yes’” (Hockey in The Hood). A lot of minorities in the inner city have the hopes to play hockey, but as we know it is not common for a minority to play professional hockey. As of September of this year only 30 African Americans play in the NHL and over 45660 whites currently play (The End to Racism). So as you can imagine it does not give much hope to these young minority athletes.

  

Works Cited

"Hockey in The Hood": But Is The Hood in Hockey?" Bleacher Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

"The End to Racism and Discrimination on the Playing Field | Commonplace." The End to Racism and Discrimination on the Playing Field | Commonplace. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.