Veteran defenseman P.K. Subban didn't speak about his New Jersey Devils' 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night.
Instead, he spoke candidly about racism just one day after his younger brother, Jordan, tweeted out that an opposing player, Jacob Panetta, directed a racist gesture toward him during an ECHL game.
That incident occurred just one day after the AHL suspended Krystof Hrabik for 30 games for directing a racist gesture at Boko Imama, who is Black.
"It keeps happening. So we can look at one incident and talk about it all we want, but tomorrow there may be another one. The next day, there may be another one," Subban said to the media.
He added, "I've lived it, so I can sit here and answer questions all you want. I've lived it, I still live it."
The 32-year-old said Jordan was doing fine and noted that moving on from troubling experiences is the status quo for his family. As part of a Black hockey family, P.K. wants to do his part to eradicate racism in the sport.
"This is life for people that look like me that have gone through the game of hockey. And that's a part of the history, whether we like it or not. We're trying to change that. I'm an advocate to change that. To do that, we gotta bring people together, and hopefully, this is another step in doing that."
He added, "We have the support of the players in the league who want to make a difference. We have to call this stuff out. ... What allows me to get up every day and come to the rink with excitement is knowing that I have the support of this organization ... and the league since I've been here."
Subban also weighed in on why using his platform for change is important to him.
"If (Jordan's) name isn't 'Subban' on the back, am I here talking about it? Probably not," he said. "But this goes to show you that racism, it doesn't matter what you do or how much money you make or how popular you are, racism is just racism. It's just hateful. It's just not right. ... We can't glaze over this and think that this is just a misunderstanding. It's not."
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