This hockey player left a game in tears after racist fans taunted him and his family.
It's 2019, and horrible, blatant racism is still alive and well—even in Canada.
Anti-racism activists have gone to great lengths to address systemic, institutional racism and unconscious, implicit racial bias in our society. But those subtler forms of racism are not all that's left to tackle. Far too often, racism still presents itself with no veils, no pretense, and no shame.
Take the story of Jonathan Diaby, a 24-year-old Canadian hockey player who left a game early in tears because racists in the crowd kept taunting him and his family. It's a story one might expect to hear from the American south in the 1950s, not from seemingly progressive Canada in 2019. And yet, here we are.
Diaby said he'd faced racism before, but it's never been this bad.
CBC reports the racist abuse from a handful of fans began in the first quarter of the game on February 24. Video shows a spectator taunting Diaby with monkey-like movements and allegedly showing him pictures of primates on his phone.
"I had to put my jersey over my face because I was like, I had teardrops, you know," Diaby told the Canadian news outlet. "They started yelling racist stuff at my parents and my sister and myself. Go negro, baboons, a bunch of stuff.
"My dad was told to go back home," Diaby added. "That he had no business in this country. They were touching his hair, making fun of him. My sister was scared, my girlfriend was scared."
The taunting got so bad that Diaby left the ice and his family left the arena before the end of the game.
Security allowed the racist fans to stay because "nobody threw any punches."
Diaby said that referees did nothing to protect him or his family from the harassment, and security didn't kick any of the taunters out of the arena, reportedly because there was no physical violence.
Diaby's coach Benoit Gratton said, "It's 2019, it's something we shouldn't see anymore. I think it's disgusting."
The league, Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey (LNAH), issued a formal apology. League commissioner Jean-Francois Laplante told the CBC that racist, sexist, and homophobic comments are unacceptable, and that if the abusers are identified, they will be banned from LNAH matches.
"This is not hockey," said Diaby. "Nobody should feel threatened to go watch his son play a hockey game."
Racist abuse is unacceptable anywhere, at any time. Even if no one is being physically assaulted, such behavior is harmful. Free speech is one thing, but hate speech and racist taunting is another.
Watch the report from CBC News here:
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
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Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."