JOHN SALAKO
Our guest columnist urges players to keep taking a knee
IUNDERSTAND why Crystal Palace winger Wilf Zaha has chosen to stop taking the knee before matches. I also understand why Swansea have announced a seven-day boycott of all social media platforms.
There’s a sense of frustration that for all the campaigns, nothing is happening. That racist, sexist and homophobic abuse is still rife. That nothing is changing.
I get that, and I do think the social media companies have a lot to answer for. Messages like the one sent to Brentford striker Ivan Toney this week are a total disgrace and the platforms clearly have an obligation to deal with that abuse. It’s a hate crime, and they should be liable.
UEFA, too, need to take greater responsibility. What kind of message does it send out when Glen Kamara, of Rangers, can be racially abused on the pitch yet still face a potential five-game ban for assaulting the perpetrator?
Nevertheless, my message to Zaha - and anyone else who thinks that the pace of change is too slow - is to persevere.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela - they are giants of the racial equality movement but they all faced a long, long road and were forced to sacrifice a lot, in some cases their lives.
They knew they wouldn’t see the fruits of their labour, and there must have been times when it felt hopeless. But they kept going. They kept winning small battles because that’s how you win the war.
And let me tell you, we’ve come a long, long way. When I was growing up, people didn’t black people, or gay people. They were ignorant, saying and doing the same things their parents and grandparents did.
I was called a monkey. A black whatever. It hurt. It really did. But we developed a thick skin and we kept fighting.
Ignorant
If someone abused me, I’d stand up, hold my head high and think ‘He is the ignorant one. He is the one perpetuating an evil lie’. I’d laugh in their face. I’d pity them. I’d even forgive them. Because if you let them upset you, they win.
If bullies know they can’t hurt you, it takes away their power, any sort of strength they think they’ve got.
Initially, that defiance didn’t change anything. But we won those little battles, kept pushing the message that bigotry and abuse would not be tolerated. And, slowly, society changed.
That is why I sincerely hope players keep taking the knee. Football is the biggest sport in the world, the Premier League the most high-profile.
Clubs are the hub of communities, an important part of people’s lives. Anything they do is massively influential. And when players take a knee, it’s so, so powerful.
OK, so some people will never change. The ignorant and unedknow ucated won’t become righteous overnight. But that gesture forces everybody else to look inside themselves and have a think. About the little jokes, the little innuendos, the little things you might normally dismiss as banter.
Change
It might just be one person who looks in the mirror and says ‘I know what I’ve been, I know what I’ve said but that’s not who I want to be anymore’. But if that one person alters their behaviour, then that is how change happens.
One person becomes two, two becomes three, the bandwagon picks up pace and everyone clambers aboard.
Ultimately, my message to footballers is this: You’ve got a platform. You’re very privileged. Just imagine what someone like Martin Luther King would have done with the worldwide audience provided by social media.
So be patient. Stay strong. Use your voice to show your unity and to shine a light on those slinging spears from the shadows. And, in time, you will make a difference.
● John Salako is an ambassador for My Club Group, who provide goods and services to help grassroots sport clubs survive, revive and thrive. www.myclubgroup.co.uk