Addressing anti-Black Racism - Survey
Dear community members, as our league grows quickly and our policies change, we would like to move forward with input from our community to inform our decisions and structures.
Players have been communicating the need to better address systemic anti-Black racism and white privilege in the league for years, and this season we saw that need reflected clearly in a number of incidents, including micro-aggressions, that disproportionately impacted Black players (some of whom left the league). The coming 2025 season is an opportunity to co-create a PTSL that takes this seriously and actively chooses a different course.
In addition to the ongoing (un)learning and training we need to be doing as a league, one possible idea to address this could be funding a Black players’ group (Black player-led; Collective and non-Black player-supported) to advise the league going forward. This would seek to provide greater equity to Black voices in the league - needed given that Black players make up a small percentage of our community (a decreasing percentage with every season we don’t address this), but are on the receiving end of a lot of the harm that is happening.
To our Black community members: Is a Black players’ group something you would be interested in contributing to? If we’re totally off the mark, what would you want to see instead? Please use the anonymous space provided above to share how we can ensure PTSL is a fun and safe community for you. We are grateful for your labour in advising us.
Key Details:
The survey is anonymous and open to all Black members of PTSL, past and present.
One idea we’re exploring is funding a Black players’ group to advise the league. What do you think?
Share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
The Collective hopes to review the input in consultation with Black community members and/or consultants to guide the next steps.
We know that people who speak up often face negative social consequences. This is unacceptable and we commit ourselves to accountable listening and challenging our defensiveness to difficult feedback.
If you are interested in volunteering to help lead any initiatives to better support Black players and community members, please do not hesitate to reach out to ptslrecsoccer @ gmail [dot] com. The survey above will remain anonymous, however we recognize the need to engage folks as they’d like to be engaged, so please reach out if you have any further feedback or interest.
To the rest of the community: Please honour this as a space specifically for Black community members to voice their thoughts and feelings. We recognize that our membership is diverse and faces many different forms of oppression that can also show up systemically in the league. This survey focuses on anti-Black racism, which has been chronically under-addressed in the league, but we are still open to listening and learning about other experiences of oppression and what we can do to address them as a community. If you have something to share, please use the anonymous space provided in this here.
