A longway to go to eliminate racism
Cricket has taken baby steps against it, but might never completely go away
Intheplaysofoldtimes, Judas would always be portrayed as a blackman… we all know of Thomas Alva Edison being the discoverer of light, but do we know who discovered the carbon filament, which keeps it burning? He was a black scientist called Lewis Howard Latimer, but howmany people have heard about it?”
Those were strong words from Michael Holding, the West Indian legend, in an emotional, scathing speech as one of the TV pundits on the eve of the England- West Indies Test match when international cricket resumed last July. Itwas the peak of the # BlackLivesMatter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death — the sentiments were still raw — and we thought that a change might be round the corner.
Six months down the line, it was mob mentality at work among a section of cricket fans — whose disgusting behaviour has ripped open the scourge of racism once again. Like every other walk of life, cricket, a colonial sport by birth— is not immune to this.
Has sport done enough to curb this menace? Roland Butcher, the first black cricketer to play for England, said football had been much more proactive in reining in this menace. “I must say football is a lot better now than it used to be. Football has done a lot to clean up its act,” the Barbadosborn cricketer, now 66, said in an interview last year with the BLM movement at its peak.
Cricket had often been at the receiving end of racism as angry players, and irresponsible behaviour from the crowd like in Sydney spewed racial remarks. Many talents were lost to cricket due to the apartheid regime in the rainbow nation of South Africa.
The evolution of franchise cricket ( read: Indian Premier League) have also played a part in making the cricketing fraternity one big family.
However, it’s a scourge whose roots lie in our social history and will never completely go away.
To get back to Holding’s words, he feels “education and sensitising of both the white and black community is the only way to end this”.
Easier said than done unless we change ourselves!