[sureLoss]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackfa...ey-11576082222

Akim Aliu had been a member of the Colorado Eagles, a minor-league hockey team, for just a small part of the season in 2011 when he received an invitation to the team’s Halloween party. The team’s players, staff, management and even their families would be there.

A couple of days before the party, the Nigerian-born player was told to “come a little bit later,” he says. He didn’t think much of it, until he walked in and poured himself a beer.

That’s when he says the team’s head equipment manager, Tony Deynzer, appeared from behind a corner. Deynzer was in blackface, wearing an Afro-style wig and a jersey that had been custom-made with Aliu’s jersey number and nickname, “DREAMER,” emblazoned on the back.

Two years earlier, a coach for a different team, Bill Peters, had used a racial slur against Aliu, which resulted in Peters resigning from the Calgary Flames a decade later when Aliu brought it to light last month. In the moment at the Halloween party, he says, partygoers exhorted Aliu and Deynzer to pose in a picture together. Deynzer smiled. Aliu didn’t. In the background of one of the pictures, an infant crawled on the floor nearby.

“Guys just started laughing,” Aliu says. “All I can do is tell my story.”

Aliu says that what troubled him most about the incident at the Halloween party was how calculated it felt. In addition to the blackface and wig worn by Deynzer, Aliu felt he had been told to arrive late just to set up the racist taunt. And the jersey, with Aliu’s nickname on it, had to be custom made.

Aliu posed for the picture, opting not to cause a scene because families, including children, were present. He says he didn’t see anyone else who was black at the party, and he felt trapped. He was in shock, he said, and didn’t fully realize the gravity of the moment until he called his brother immediately afterward.

“I didn’t even grasp the idea of how vicious of a thing that is to do,” Aliu says.

Aliu played only 10 games for the team. In the weeks after the incident, he asked for a trade, which at first was denied. His stress grew so severe after what took place that he says he was hospitalized.

News Update

Ryan S. Clark @ryan_s_clark
Colorado Eagles trainer Tony Deynzer has been placed on an administrative leave of absence by the Colorado Avalanche.

The news comes after Akim Aliu spoke with the Wall Street Journal about how Deynzer dressed in blackface back in 2011 at a Halloween Party. #Avs

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