As many as 30 former South African cricketers on Tuesday (July 14) extended their support to the global Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, acknowledging that racism remains part of the game in the country.
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In a statement, the former players also threw their weight behind current South Africa speedster Lungi Ngidi, who was recently attacked by ex-Proteas cricketers like Pat Symcox and Boeta Dippenaar for asking the national team to take a stand in support of the BLM campaign.
Renowned names such as Makhaya Ntini, Herschelle Gibbs, Vernon Philander, Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy and Paul Adams were among the 30 cricketers who have signed the statement.
“We commend Lungi Ngidi for supporting Black Lives Matter – and wed like to add our support for it too. We note the criticism aimed at Lungi for expressing his views and we hope that Cricket South Africa (CSA), together with fellow cricketers – both present and past – will come out strongly in support of BLM.
“We note too that the most outspoken criticism directed at Ngidi has come via former players such as Pat Symcox, Boeta Dippenaar, Rudi Steyn, Brian McMillan and others, and we urge that their views be challenged,” read the statement which was published on ‘Sport24’.
The former players said they were not surprised to see Symcox and Dippenar slamming Ngidi on social media.
“Given South Africa’s well-known past, black cricketers have borne the brunt of subtle and overt racist behaviour for many years, including from some colleagues… there is a need to understand how white privilege feeds into the perpetuation of these old attitudes and assumptions.
“Our attitude, mistakenly, we now believe, has always been to say: ‘These are teething problems, and that these will be resolved if we are patient’,” the statement said.
“But after almost three decades of cricket unity, the views expressed from one side of the racial divide are still very much part of our lives, and we now believe: ‘Teething problems cannot be allowed to continue for this long’,” it added.
Racism has become a topic of global debate following 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 protests across the United States while demonstrations were held in various countries in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
West Indies cricketers like Chris Gayle, Daren Sammy, Carlos Brathwaite among others have been vocal supporters of the protests and also opened up about the racism in the game.
Moreover, England and West Indies players took the knee to show combined support to the Black Lives Matter campaign ahead of the first Test match in Southampton last week.
