Joel Ward #42 of the Washington Capitals is congratulated after he scored the game winning goal against the Boston Bruins in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 25, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Washington Capitals defeated the Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime.
*Washington Capitals fans are still celebrating Joel Ward’s overtime goal last night to lift the team beyond the first round of the playoffs, but some salty fans of the opposing Boston Bruins reacted to the loss via racist comments about Ward on Twitter.
Ward, a Canadian born to parents who emigrated from Barbados, got the puck past Boston goalie Tim Thomas during overtime in Game 7.
Moments later, Twitter lit up with a small group of Bruins fans using the N-word to refer to the Caps’ hero. Below is just a small sample of what was tweeted.
The Huffington Post reports: “ If you feel the need to see further evidence that racism remains a virulent presence in our society then visit Chirpstory, Black Sports Online or Capitals Outsider to see even more of this terrible blather.
Joel Ward’s winning goal below:
unbelieveable that hate comes out like that.
You know, putting things in perspective, i think we all (Niggra’s) should prepare for an awesome onslaught of racial hatred to come! Because the tides are a turning, and the proverbial “chicken’s” are slowing but surely coming to roost!! The more we (niggra’s) take leadership and our “rightful place” in these here America’s, the more we (niggra’s) exert our position’s which is NOT the bottom feeders that THEY hoped their brainwashing would relegate us to, but at the top of the game, if we so choose to play, which we ARE having the guts to do more and more, the more it stirs the fear laced hate within them and is combusting into these ridiculous cowardly comments, blatant disrespectful outbursts, outright disdain for even the leader of this “so called” free world, by its own cabinet, and even more from their confederate (toothless or titled) constituents!! A storm is a brewin……
I just sent dude a tweet. LOL!
The winning goal in over time in the seventh game against the reigning champion.
Ouch!
That gotta hurt.
Well, at least they honest.
It hurt a lot more coming from a black man.
And they can rest assured that it won’t be getting any better from here on.
This is what is to be excepted with social media. If you read the comments on twitter and blogs, a lot of hurtful things are said towards a lot of different ethnicities. Nothin to be truly alarmed about.
But this isn’t about other ethnicities. It’s about racists singling out the one black hockey player and attacking him..portraying him as unfit. This is about a sport. It isn’t about a comment he made nor a position he took on an issue where people could disagree.
He helped win a sports game and the racists didn’t like it.
Singling out a black person is your issue as if it’s not done to other races. Social media allows folks to attack all races and religious groups and the gay community. It’s the sad truth.
But if we take an indifference attitude and accept this “sad truth”, overtime, we’ll end up going backwards to 1882-1968 when there 3446 pieces of strange fruit where hanging from the trees. And it was only 2 years ago in South Carolina that a Black man was shot to death and his body was dragged behind a truck by racists. We have to speak up now and stop this crap. Whether someone is hiding behind social media or in the open public. And it doesn’t matter what race is involved.