San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane has helped to create the Hockey Diversity Alliance.
Kane will be a co-head of the group as well, sharing those responsibilities with Akim Aliu. The executive group will also feature Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley, Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, Buffalo Sabres forward Wayne Simmonds, Philadelphia Flyers forward Chris Stewart and retired NHL forward Joel Ward.
We are proud to announce the formation of the Hockey Diversity Alliance 🏒 ✊🾠pic.twitter.com/Z5g6BP2b4f
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) June 8, 2020
The group’s goal is to end racism in hockey and will work to do this by promoting diversity “at all levels of the game through community outreach and engagement with youth… and "educating the hockey community about the racism issues confronting the sport," as noted in the statement. The group will be independent of the NHL but does hope to work with the league.
At the end of May, Kane also spoke about the death of George Floyd in an interview with ESPN, while last month, co-head Aliu wrote an article for The Players’ Tribune titled “Hockey Is Not for Everyone,… in which he shared his own experiences with racism and called for change in the game. Both are linked below:
During these difficult past few months, I’ve done lots of thinking and self reflection, and decided to tell the story of my own journey in my own words. I hope this will inspire the next generation of athletes when things return to normal. #TimeToDream https://t.co/UuVykTMpU9
— Akim Aliu (@Dreamer_Aliu78) May 19, 2020
Matt Dumba also released a statement of his own last week.
â¤ï¸ pic.twitter.com/KYcHfsCoD7
— Matt Dumba (@matt_dumba) June 2, 2020
As Kane spoke about in his interview, hopefully we do continue to see more and more hockey players speak out against racial injustices. Jonathan Toews, Blake Wheeler and others have posted statements but as Kane said, we need more athletes with platforms speaking out to create change.