Former West Indies skipper Daren Sammy has alleged that he and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera faced racist jibe while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, at that time, he did not understand what those racial barbs directed at him meant.
Taking to social media, Sammy said he and Thisara Perera were called "kalu" when they were part of the SRH franchise.
Notably, Kalu is a Hindi word and the literal meaning of it is a “black person” in English.
“Oh so that’s what that meant when they called me and Thisara Perera Kalu in India when we played for Sunrisers. I just thought they were calling me strong black man… I’m more piss now,” Sammy wrote on his Instagram story on Saturday (June 6).
He wrote in the next story: “I just learnt what that kalu meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They called me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong Stallion. My previous post tells me something different and I am angry.”
Sammy expressed his fury at a time when the world is mourning the killing of George Floyd – a 46-year-old African-American, who died on May 25 in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin, a white policeman, knelt on his neck for several minutes.
Floyd’s death sparked days of protests across the United States while demonstration was held in various countries in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Sammy was a vocal supporter of the protests in the USA and also asked the cricketing fraternity to speak out against racism.
“Right now if the cricket world not standing against the injustice against people of color after seeing that last video of that foot down the next of my brother you are also part of the problem,” Sammy tweeted earlier.
The two-time World Cup-winning captain pointed out that racism is not just limited to America but blacks all across the world have to deal with the social evil on a daily basis.
“@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind? This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u,” Sammy further tweeted.
