Leafs legend Doug Gilmour shows support for protests, then is immediately forced to backpedal

In case you missed it yesterday, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews penned a stirring call to arms and lended his support to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.

Read below:

A lot of people may claim these riots and acts of destruction are a terrible response. I’ll be the first to admit that as a white male that was also my first reaction.

But who am I to tell someone that their pain is not real? Especially when it is at a boiling point and impossible to hold in anymore. It’s obviously coming from a place of truth. This reaction isn’t coming out of thin air.

I’m not condoning or approving the looting, but are we really going to sit here and say that peaceful protesting is the only answer? There has been plenty of time for that, and if it was the answer we would’ve given it our full attention long ago.

Listen to these two men debate. They are lost, they are in pain. They strived for a better future but as they get older they realize their efforts may be futile. They don’t know the answer of how to solve this problem for the next generation of black women and men. This breaks my heart.

I can’t pretend for a second that I know what it feels like to walk in a black man’s shoes. However, seeing the video of George Floyd’s death and the violent reaction across the country moved me to tears. It has pushed me to think, how much pain are black people and other minorities really feeling? What have Native American people dealt with in both Canada and US? What is it really like to grow up in their world? Where am I ignorant about the privileges that I may have that others don’t?

Compassion to me is at least trying to FEEL and UNDERSTAND what someone else is going through. For just a moment maybe I can try to see the world through their eyes. Covid has been rough but it has given us the opportunity to be much less preoccupied with our busy lives. We can no longer distract ourselves from the truth of what is going on.

My message isn’t for black people and what they should do going forward. My message is to white people to open our eyes and our hearts. That’s the only choice we have, otherwise this will continue.

Let’s choose to fight hate and fear with love and awareness. Ask not what can you do for me, but what can I do for you?
Be the one to make the first move. In the end, love conquers all.

#blacklivesmatter

That call to arms has led several other NHLers to speak up and openly voice their support for Black Lives Matter, including Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin and most recently former Toronto Maple Leafs legend Doug Gilmour. Kind of...

You see, Gilmour posted the Black Lives Matter hashtag and blacked out his profile picture on Twitter earlier today in a show of solidarity.

Check it out:

But... it didn't last long. Within minutes, Gilmour deleted the post presumably because of the backlash that many other players have received for voicing their support for BLM. 

UPDATE: Gilmour has once again made a post and has blacked out his profile picture. Evidently the man they call "Killer" isn't afraid of sticking his neck out. No surprise given the amount of guts this guy played with during his time in the NHL.

Check it out: