whats up babes

Excerpts from “Why is the NHL so afraid of saying Black Lives Matter?” by Hemal Jhaveri, 08.01.20

Saying Black Lives is a stroke of marketing genius, since it provides cover for the NHL on both sides of the political coin. For those fans who say the league should pay more attention to issues of racial justice, they can point to #WeSkateForBlackLives hashtag. For fans who say they want to keep politics out of sports, the league can accurately claim that there are no Black Lives Matter signs in their arenas.

Black Lives Matter may be more accepted now than when Colin Kaepernick first took a knee, but there are still plenty of people, in the US and Canada, who are offended by BLM and its mission, viewing it as a political and social hazard. By refusing to boldly use these words and straining for more neutral ground, the NHL has bowed to those voices. The NHL replaced powerful words with amorphous slogans that equate to nothing more than sentiment.

Black Lives Matter is not an easy phrase to use. It demands that the words not stand on their own, but be buttressed by tangible actions. Supporting Black Lives Matter would mean supporting police reform, voting reforms, criminal justice reform and more.  By divorcing itself from those words, the NHL has shown it is not fully ready to take that leap.

Black Girl Hockey Club has announced their scholarship program to help Black women pursue hockey. It includes four different types of awards. 

imo the wild dress code situation represents so much of why this team is boring, annoying, and stagnating. there is no creativity, no individuality, no spice

Black Girl Hockey Club has announced their scholarship program to help Black women pursue hockey. It includes four different types of awards. 

Black Girl Hockey Club has announced their scholarship program to help Black women pursue hockey. It includes four different types of awards. 

Black Girl Hockey Club has announced their scholarship program to help Black women pursue hockey. It includes four different types of awards. 

Black Girl Hockey Club has announced their scholarship program to help Black women pursue hockey. It includes four different types of awards. 

The problem is that roads in the US are not built for cyclists and there are many different kinds of people riding bikes. If there were always a separated bike path (exclusively for bikes, not pedestrians, and pedestrians had their own safe walking space as well) that people on bikes could access? Guess what cyclists would use that infrastructure and feel safe using it! But right now in the US that often doesn’t exist, so cyclists are forced to adapt to a system that doesn’t consider their circumstances.

Some cyclists choose to ride aggressively in traffic and protect themselves. For instance, a cyclist at a red light may observe an intersection carefully and start moving before the light turns green to get a head start in front of traffic to create space and protect themselves by taking the lane. Cyclists may roll through a stop sign at the top of a hill after observing a four way stop as they approach and knowing that they have the right of way.

Some cyclists ride defensively to protect themselves. They do not feel safe next to two-ton vehicles with blind spots and so they ride in pedestrian infrastructure where cars are not allowed. Especially in cities and suburbs with many four+ lane roads (not highways) with 35 mph+ speed limits, separating oneself from traffic may be the safest option.