Unpopular opinion: acknowledging that 1960 and 1980 inspired today's hockey players is the same as saying black players inspire new black players

Stoked on the double Men's and Women's sweep of golds in Olympic Hockey this year, but was thinking about the thread a few days ago recognizing Laila Edwards as the first Black female hockey player to win gold with USA.

The comments generally had a sentiment of "Edwards is a good hockey player, period." or "Why do you people always have to make it about race?"

The 1980 U.S. Men's team inspired kids who then envisioned for themselves what was possible, because some college kids from Mass, Minnesota, etc. were able to win an Olympic Gold. No one denies this fact, so why is it so difficult to see that seeing a prominent Black hockey player is also important to Black kids to see themselves as potential top hockey players?