Racism In Cricket
The picture and the case got viral throughout the world . Even in this 21st century racism has managed to make its presence felt. After this incident many people shared how they were affected by racism.
We have seen racism in football, golf and even rugby and the latest to find itself at the centre of the discussion is cricket.
Cricket is a sport that has its roots in colonialism, but has always been believed to be a strong unifying force, irrespective of cultural differences.
Recently, ICC allowed the West Indian team to wear a 'Black Lives Matter' symbol on the collars of their jersey during the upcoming England vs West Indies 2020 series. Even the English team supported this move and decided to wear the symbol too.
During the 1st Test between England and West Indies , West Indies legend Michael Holding delivered a very strong message. Let's read what he said on Sky Sports:
"Education is important unless we want to continue living the life that we are living and want to continue having demonstrations every now and again and a few people saying a few things. When I say education, I mean going back in history. What people need to understand is that thing stems from a long time ago, hundreds of years ago," Holding said on Sky Sports.
"The dehumanisation of the black race is where it started. People will tell you that's a long time ago, get over it. No, you don't get over things like that and society has not gotten over something like that," he added.
"Look at Jesus Christ and the image of Jesus Christ - pale skin, blonde hair, blue eyes. Where Jesus came from, who in that part of the world looks that way? Again, that is brainwashing to show you what the image of perfection is. If you look at the plays of those days, Judas who betrayed Jesus, he's a black man. Again, brainwashing people to think 'he is a black man, he is the bad man," he observed.
He continued, "These lights that are shining on us. You can tell me who invented the lightbulb - Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. Thomas Edison invented a lightbulb with a paper filament - it burned out in no time at all."
"Can you tell me who invented the filament that makes these lights shine throughout? Nobody knows, because it was a black man. I was not taught in schools - Lewis Howard Latimer invented the carbon filament to allow lights to continuously shine. Who knows that?"
"Everything should be taught. When you go back through the schooling as a young man, I remember my school days. I was never taught anything good about black men. You cannot have a society that was brought up like that - both white and black - only teach what is convenient to the teacher," he said.
"History is written by the conqueror, not by those who are conquered. History is written by the people who do the harming, not those who are harmed. We need to go back and teach both sides of history," he added.
In his interview with Sky Sports news next day only Michael Holding was reduced to tears while discussing racism his parents faced and how he was affected with that. Let's know what he said:
"To be honest, that emotional part came when I started thinking of my parents. And it's coming again now," Holding said.
Taking a little pause, he continued: "Mark, I know what my parents went through.
"My mother's family stopped talking to her because her husband was too dark.
"I know what they went through, and that came back to me immediately," he added while wiping tears from his eyes.
This is how deep racism cuts. Before the beginning of the game both teams took a knee as mark of support towards the BLM movement.
Let's see some instances where racism took its ugly face:
1. Jofra Archer's case
Last year, during England's tour of New Zealand a spectator made a racist comment on Archer as he walked back to the pavilion. Archer also complained of being racially abused. The spectator behind this has been banned from all domestic and international fixtures in New Zealand until 2022.
2. Sarfaraz and the stump mic
Last year the former Pakistani skipper made a racist comment on Andile Phelukwayo in Urdu during the second ODI of the series. He was heavily criticised by fans all over the world for his comments. Also, he was banned for 4 matches by ICC.Sarfaraz said he personally met Phelukwayo and apologised for his comments.
3. Moeen Ali's Case
In 2018, Moeen revealed that he was called "Osama" during the 2015 Ashes series by an Australian player whose name he didn't revealed. While the respective cricket boards carried out internal investigations, the unnamed player denied the allegation.
Racism should not be tolerated at all. Under the anti-racism code of the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), a third breach of the code by a player could lead to a life ban.
The sanction for a first offence by a player can be up to a ban for four tests or eight limited-overs matches.
We all should take stand against racism and stop this practice.
#Black Lives Matter✊🏿
This is disheartening!🙏🏻 ☹️
ReplyDelete