Jasper Weatherby might better be known as the ‘people’s champion,’ just by being a genuinely nice guy. I don’t mean he’s a nice guy in the same way we call all generic hockey players nice guys simply because they’ve never posted anything heinous online and we don’t know anything about them — Weatherby shows regular, public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, among other social causes.
And listen, being anti-racist is the bare minimum of being an upstanding, regular person. We should all be actively anti-racist. But you can’t argue with the fact that hockey (unfortunately) isn’t the most progressive of sports, nor are the players likely to speak out about social issues, so when a player is outspoken in advocating for racial justice, it’s a breath of fresh air and a step forward for the sport as a whole.