Booing just spurs us on
THE BOOING won’t have an effect on England’s campaign. If anything, it just gives the players even more of a reason to continue taking the knee into next season.
I didn’t realise there was that much opposition to a black life mattering. I don’t see how you can oppose that. That’s what we are taking the knee for, to remind people that a black life matters just as much as any other race – no more, no less, just as much.
We continually make clear in the Premier League that it is not a political statement. But still the boos continue. That says to me that there is still a lot of work to be done. The outside noise will continue, of course, but on the inside our England players know and will continue to stand strong. They’ll be saying, ‘We are taking a knee for 10 seconds. Everyone knows why – and if they boo us, they boo us.’ Hopefully, we’ll get a better reception from fans if we get far enough to be playing in the knockout rounds in different cities around Europe.
We can’t let up. We have to keep our foot on the throttle, we have to continue fighting against injustice. And hopefully, whether I’m in the Premier League or not, they will continue taking the knee next season.
I’m not nervous about any booing on Sunday. I’ve accepted the fact that it will happen. The people booing either don’t care or still don’t get it.
So I will be fighting as much as everybody else to ensure that they understand my life as a black man matters.