Seth Jones, the best under-18 hockey player in the country
Seth Jones, son of former NBA player and current Brooklyn Nets assistant coach, Popeye Jones, is an ice hockey gold medalist...
In a sport where there aren’t many black faces, Seth Jones, 18, ranks as one of the best on the ice. Jones plays for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. In April he won his second straight gold medal at the World Under-18 Championship in the Czech Republic. Ebony has the full story:
Black hockey players don’t seem to come around that often. When they do, generally they’re not American born. Professional hockey has an air of racism attached to it as we saw in this past season that began with a fan in New York throwing a banana on the ice as Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds (the only Black player on the team) was attempting a penalty shot and ended with an onslaught of racist tweets from Boston fans angry that a “nigger” ended their season after the Washington Capitals’ Joel Ward scored the game-winning goal in overtime to knock the Boston Bruins out of the playoffs.
On the flipside, the NBA is more than 80% Black and although its’ players are the most disliked by fans, they manage to find comfort and camaraderie in the league.
That’s what makes this story so compelling.
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