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New York Rangers Prospect K’Andre Miller Expresses Frustration Over Being Called Racial Slurs Following George Floyd’s Death

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New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller is one of the few black players in the NHL and also happens to be from the Minneapolis/St. Paul region which of course was the site of George Floyd’s murder. The 20-year-old was drafted in 2018 and signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Rangers in March.

When introduced by the team on April 3 via a Zoom call, Miller was unfortunately subjected to racial slurs from a user. At the time, Miller didn’t directly address the situation as he felt uncomfortable doing so during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. However, Miller expressed his “frustration and anger” over the incident following the murder of George Floyd and the events nationwide that have occurred in response to it:

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Miller wrote in a tweeted statement on Monday,

“I struggle because I’ve never been fully accepted by either the black community or the white community. I struggle because for years I have been one of the only people of color on my hockey teams. I have been targeted because of my race when I was in youth hockey by some coaches, parents and players, but I refused to give up because of my love for the game.

I’ve struggled for months to find the words to express my frustration and anger over the Zoom conference call incident when I was to be introduced after signing my NHL contract. It’s something that I won’t ever forget. You can only imagine how it felt to have an organization like the New York Rangers draft me, the hockey player. For that one moment in time I didn’t have to be defined by the color of my skin but rather on my hockey skills, athletic ability and character. This is how it should be all the time. It’s time for action, time for change and once and for all, it’s time to let black people be judged based on who we are not what we look like.”

In response to the racial slurs, the Rangers disabled the chat, condemned the racism and promised to investigate. Miller played his college ice hockey at the University of Wisconsin and was the  22nd overall pick by the Rangers. The defenseman represented Team USA at the 2019 Junior World Championships

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