50 years ago
not in society and not in sporting environments across the world, which is why there has always been this white bias and acceptance that white is right.
In a South African sporting context, do white players and coaches actually realise what they are saying every time they applaud a black selection as being a ‘merit’ selection? I never hear black players saying they are comfortable that the white players chosen are there on merit.
Those condemning #Blacklivesmatter statements in sport are claiming that it politicises sport. What nonsense. Sport has always been politicised and #Blacklivesmatter isn’t about politics but about freedom and equality.
Formula One’s world champion Lewis Hamilton will race in a black Mercedes to make a statement to the world that #Blacklivesmatter. Black soccer players like Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Arsenal captain Pierre-emerick Aubameyang have been prominent and outspoken in challenging life’s status quo when it comes to race and equality. Every voice, when multiplied, becomes an unbreakable collective. It is the way it must be.
#Blacklivesmatter is not a project, a weekly protest or something that is in vogue. It is a reality and sport, as a global attraction, has the platform to never excuse or tolerate prejudice against black lives.
The taunts, however subtle and seemingly silent, can never again be dismissed as meaningless because of ignorance or blamed on history.
In a South African sporting context, by way of just one example, our best rugby player is black, our best cricketer is black, our best soccer player is black and most of our best athletes are black.
But they shouldn’t have to be the best to sit as an equal at any table. They should just have to be, to be at any table. It is called equality.
#Blacklivesmatter social awareness and acceptance is heightened in South Africa because of imagery like Siya Kolisi leading the Springboks to World Cup glory. It is emphasised every time Caster Semenya wins or Kagiso Rabada takes a wicket or Percy Tau scores a goal. But it can’t be a case of an occasion, a picture or a feel-good moment. #Blacklivesmatter has to be lived every day, in our sporting arenas and in our society.
I am not black and I don’t know what it feels like to suffer prejudice because of my skin colour, but when I listen to the Ali interview of 49 years ago, I know that in 2020 something is still seriously wrong and that #Blacklivesmatter protests have globally exposed sport’s failure to deal with racism.
The talking can never stop and once the protests have softened, the actions of everyone in sport must harden to ensure that our future generations can celebrate black lives mattering, instead of having to protest the obvious 50 years from now.