Prejudice, not just a word defined as, "illogical, inaccurate, and unjustifiable attitudes about members of a group" but a word that contains unwanted energy that has a powerful negative impact on those it touches. I know, because I’ve experienced the "negative actions directed to members of a specific group" called discrimination. Prejudice is an attitude that can be felt. A person does not have to do or say anything prejudicial to me, but I can feel it and sense it. I think body language and non-verbal communication plays a role in prejudice. I would like to focus this essay on the relationship between Hockey and Prejudice, do they go hand in hand? I will be relating this essay not only to the chapter on Prejudice and Discrimination, but also to chapters 12: Social Categories, Groups and Leadership, and chapter 14: Crowds and Collective Behavior.

Hockey has been part of my life for five years now, and being a hockey mom has its moments. Personally, I don’t like the sport because it goes against my native teachings for child rearing. I feel a sense of ambivalence between the sport and the way I am raising my children. I teach them to be respectful to others, to be humble about their achievements (in other words, not to brag), to walk their talk, and not to be so loud when they speak but to talk with strength in their voice. On the other hand, hockey is all the opposite. It is violent, loud, and aggressive. One thing is certain, I do not force my children to play however, and they want to be out there "checking" and roughhousing with other boys. When I watch my boys play, I am proud. I enjoy watching "home" games because I feel at ease knowing our team is safe at home where there is no one-sided games. On the other hand, when our teams go out to play in the small towns I feel apprehensive because most games turn out to be unfair. Then I think, hockey is hockey. A rivalry game between two teams, however, "Teams can become an extension of our own identity" (pg 327) "The we versus they division in our society, often produces a competitive relationship between the members of different social categories. We want our team to win, our age group, our sex, our neighborhood to win. (pg 327) I can see this logic, however when the fairness is taken out of the game, not once, but many times, I wonder if it’s because it’s a native team. I personally think so in this case, which leads to my recent experience….

It happened three weeks ago when my son played a league hockey game in St. Paul, Alberta. There has been a hockey rivalry between St. Paul and Saddle Lake for years, but not only Saddle Lake, also Whitefish lake. This rivalry goes with all levels of hockey right down to the "atoms" level, which is 10-11 year olds. My son Leo Jr. plays in the Peewee level (12-13 year olds). I remember the morning clearly, I awoke and thought, "jeez, I have to go to town today for Jr’s game." I felt I was preparing myself emotionally for any signs of prejudice at this game ( a sign of classical conditioning). It seems we never get a fair game at St. Paul. Once we arrived, my son went straight to the dressing room and I proceeded to go upstairs to the visitor’s side to get a mocha. I went to the canteen and made my request in a friendly manner, smiling with a cheery tone of voice. The response I received from the woman taking my order was a cold look. She went through the motions of preparing my mocha, which took about one minute. This one-minute seemed to go by slowly because I could feel the energy was not positive. I know this sounds like a typical customer and cashier routine, however the energy I felt was this instant invisible wall between us. From my point of view I’m use to sensing this energy from past experiences with store clerks, bank tellers, etc.

The Saddle Lake and St. Paul fans were on opposite sides of the arena facing each other, reinforcing the research in the text on "in-group/out-group" information. It states, "…we all construct for ourselves in a division of people into in-groups (categories to which we belong) and out-groups (categories to which we do not belong), i.e. "we" and "they" (pg 327).

In the arena I sat down and watched the boys warm up on the ice when three referees skated towards our coach to shake his hand. Then I noticed one referee did not seem too enthusiastic, I could tell by the look on his face. It was as if he "had" to do it. The game began and the first period went smoothly with the fans cheering positively and the referees calling fairly. However, during the second period something went wrong. There was twelve minutes left in the period when the referees began to cheat. It was so obvious. Our boys were put in the penalty box two at a time! It was so ridiculous. I noticed the St. Paul team could commit all the crimes there was and nothing would happen to them. The Saddle Lake parents began to get angry, shouting and yelling things like, "Come on, he didn’t do anything!" or "Cheaters!". The louder they got, the more I could feel my emotions rising. I was beginning to feel very angry also. This is an example of "Contagion and the irrationality of crowds – contagion theory is based on the notion of the rapid spreading of emotionality, beliefs and behavior throughout a crowd or population, somewhat analogous to the way that diseases spread as one individual infects another." (pg 394) During the intermission, Saddle Lake parents did not say much to each other, usually everyone grabs a coffee and socializes. This time everyone did his or her own thing. I think they were frustrated and angry. In the text it explains 15 consequences of being victimized, "the victimized can simply accept their situation with passivity and resignation (although not without resentment" (pg 378) Analyzing the situation, I think the parents were in are in this category. I see this often at away games. No one says or does anything, they just allow it to happen.

Metaphorically speaking, the third period came and went like a hurricane. You could feel the atmosphere, a sense of tension and urgency was in the air. I sat down and watched in fear, anger, and apprehension the first few minutes of the game. Then it started again. The referees began blowing their whistles and pointing at our boys again. The St.Paul boys would push, trip, and hit illegally and they would not get called on anything. It was obvious because so far during the game, not one St. Paul player went in the penalty box. What surprised me was when the goalie turned our way and shouted., "Shut your hole!" normally, this would be called as a penalty but nothing was done.

During this time a sense deindividuation began to occur. When a couple of our mothers were yelling and screaming nasty comments to the referees, more and more of our parents began doing the same. Then I realized I was it was also happening to me. "the presence of group physical activity which in itself is arousing and sustaining, for example when everyone is yelling and screaming at a rock concert, such stimulation may readily lead others to yell and scream." (pg 395) Then I thought, "Priscilla don’t do this, don’t react, because what your doing is wrong, what is yelling going to solve?" I had to remove myself physically from where I was sitting. I said to the person sitting next to me, "I’m getting out of here, I’m getting too upset to watch this." I stood up and walked out of the arena, went to the bathroom, and as I walked out I looked outside at the grey sky and concrete ground. To me, it was a way to bring myself back to reality. That life is calm out there and what is happening in here will end soon.

I went back to watch the game through the Plexiglas window. I noticed that other parents from our side came out also. The parents were all so quiet as they watched. Then focusing my attention back to the game, a fight broke loose on the ice. To my surprise the referees did nothing to stop it. They just stood by and watched! Immediately I said, "Can they do that? Aren’t they suppose to stop it?" I know a little about hockey because my husband is a referee, and I know they are supposed to stop the fight. This is not NHL hockey where it is allowed, it’s minor hockey! As I watched in shock, I felt victimized and helpless. Of course, our boy got thrown out of the game and four more games thereafter, whereas, the other boy did not even a penalty and continued to play. A few seconds after this fight, another of our boys got thrown out and suspended for two games. I found out later that he didn’t even know what he did! I looked down at the ice and seen the referee turn to the Saddle Lake fans and laugh. I was shocked! Then I saw our coach get on the ice to talk to the referee. It looked like they were arguing because Keith (our coach) was waving his arms as he spoke. I noticed the referee’s body language, it seemed like he was mocking him and whatever Keith said was not important. During all this, I looked across at the St. Paul fans and noticed how quiet and composed they looked throughout the game. I give them credit for being good "role-models" because they certainly had nothing to complain about. On the other hand, I’ll justify the behavior of our group by saying that they had a right to be angry, to yell and scream because it may be the only way they know of handling the situation. People don’t get mad for nothing, there is always a reason behind it. This is when I thought, " come on now you guys, quit yelling and screaming and do something about it now. I’m tired of this." This is a reflection on the consequences of being victimized where it states, "minority group members are reluctant to admit that their failures are due to discrimination because this would indicate that what happens to them is controlled by others." (pg 380) and "…the disadvantaged status of the group remains unchanged. Over time attributions within the group remain shift again, as the majority of those who cannot be accepted and successful in society realize that the fault lies neither in their inherent characteristics as a group member nor as individuals. It now becomes apparent that their status in society is an injustice, has been determined collectively and can only change through collective action." (pg 379) Yelling and screaming will only reinforce the stereotype, "unruly indians." I found this out the next day after speaking with a colleque whose stepson plays for St. Paul. From experiencing first hand the name-calling and verbal prejudicial outburts in the past, I know that this stereotype is not just with my colleque, but with other St.Paul individuals. The text explains this clearly, "that even a small amount of negative behavior by a member of a minority can have a significant impact." (pg 372)

So in other words, if one native gives you a stereotype, it will take ten natives to disconfirm it.

St. Paul is surrounded by five reservations, Saddle Lake, Cold Lake, Kehewin, Frog Lake, and Whitefish Lake. There is not much inter-group contact between the natives and the white people of St. Paul. The only interaction they have with the natives is through hockey and the bars. When you go to St. Paul how many natives do you see employed at any business? Five years ago you’d say one. It is only within the past three years that natives are becoming more visual. The sad thing is, the most visual image is the "drunken indians" out on the streets or hitchhiking at the end of town. The thing is how much of the negative stereotypes will change to the positive about native people and shifting the notion that all native people are not drunk, lazy and dirty? It states in the book that, "It takes a good deal of inter-group contact to change negative stereotypes" (pg 372)

"Thus stereotypes are not simply abstractions about group categories, they can act as "cognitive filters" through which we select what information to use, what to ignore and how to interpret it. Bodenhausen (1988) found that people pay more attention to, and were better to recall, information that was consistent with their stereotypes, and that inconsistent information was neglected or ignored." (pg355) To reinforce this statement, "Zajonc thought that the "mere-exposure" effect happened regardless of the subjects initial attitude, but later research indicates that only positive or neutral stimuli are enhanced. Evaluation of initially disliked stimuli are unlikely to improve, and may deteriorate further." (pg 365)

For a positive change to happen, more inter-group contact must happen, but in a positive atmosphere. "There must be a favorable climate for inter-group contact, and the contact must be of intimate rather than a casual nature. Also, the contact must be rewarding and pleasant." (pg 370)

What impacted me the most about this incident is what my son said. On our drive back home he asked in a low tone of voice, "Mom, how come they did that to us?" I responded by asking, "whose they and what did they do?" he said, "I don’t know, the ref’s, they cheated and weren’t fair." The emotions I felt were of hurt and anger. I responded by saying, "What they did was wrong, but I believe that if you treat someone unfair, it will come back to you. So the creator knows." He said, "but it’s like this almost everywhere we go and play, why?" All I can say is that I was hurt, because as a mother, you love your children so much that you want to keep them from any harm. Being a mother, you teach your children love, kindness, honesty and fairness. These teachings are not told to the child, but it is shown. Now as a native mother, there is no difference. I am a native mother who tries to be aware of my actions because my children see what I do and hear what I say. I could have easily said, "all white people…" because I was hurt and upset, but no, I didn’t want to show my child to hate. In the text it states, "models, usually individuals with whom the child identifies, such as parents or teachers have been shown to be highly effective in teaching attitudes and prejudice." (pg 367) This could also be an example of classical conditioning where the native team plays the white team and the referee’s cheat for the white team. This cheating is the unconditioned stimulus, which arouses hostility, fear, and anxiety in the child and even the parents. I know I feel these emotions when I hear that our team has an away game. This process may account for "at least some portion of the emotional or evaluative aspect of prejudice." (pg 367) In conclusion, as a native, I feel I have to prepare my children emotionally for the effects of prejudice and discrimination. Because I do not want them to be victim to the "self-fulfilling prophecy" which is defined as, "members of minorities may hear the stereotypes so often they come to believe them, and behave accordingly." (pg 359)

Summarizing this essay, hockey is a sport when it is between two "same-race" teams, but not between natives and whites. Natives seem to have it twice as hard in the sport of hockey and to back this up let me ask this one question: How many native hockey players do you see in the NHL?