Peanuts by Charles Schulz for November 06, 1974

About eight years ago (2003) a guy told me there’s three black players in the NHL. I don’t know what the number is today.

According to Google, around 25 (2012). Can’t get on Wikipedia right now due to censor awareness. Thanks communist congress .

I think Schulz is mentioning this because he thinks it’s unfair… Your thoughts?

First you have to consider how may black people want to be in hockey. If my husband is typical, not many; he loathes the cold and has pointed out that, coming from Africa, African-Americans are really not adapted to handle cold well.Then you must compare the number of those trying out to the number of those drafted. If the percentage is much lower than for whites, there might be a racism factor going on. I suspect not.

Thanks to Franklin, there are black players in the NHL now. Still not many, but more than there used to be, and many more to come. Look at young Seth Jones. His father was an NBA player. Soon, he will be in the NHL.

It’s not where the money is.That’s the factor.

about 75

Wow, that’s a lot of numbers. All of them more than I thought, since I don’t follow hockey. Congratulations to all in a tough but beautiful sport.

http://www.snopes.com/charlie-brown-racist-franklin/

I wasn’t sure what to make of this at first, but I know Charles Schulz was the first to insist he would include a black character in his cartoon strip, and in the day, he was a great fan of the Atlanta Flames. At least one year their first program of the season featured Snoopy on the cover playing goal.

This could be the most unkind thing one character ever said to another in “Peanuts.” Not the idea…that Peppermint Patty is saying it to her friend Franklin.

Charles Schulz was a great hockey fan, and the first to insist he was having a black character in his comics. I don’t believe this was meant to be unkind, just Charles Schulz speaking his opinion through Patty that in the 1970s black players were not likely to make it to the NHL more because of racism than because of a lack of skill.

Am I ever glad this was published in the 20th century.

Franklin is very proud of his black heritage. I’ll bet that if there was an additional panel of this comic he shout “How dare you!” at Peppermint Patty.