West Indies captain Jason Holder has echoed the voice of his former teammate Daren Sammy and said that it “would be foolish” to deny that racism does not exist in cricket. Sammy had earlier revealed that he was subjected to racism in the dressing room of Sunrisers Hyderabad during his stint with the team in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“I would be foolish to sit here and say that racism is not prevalent in our sport. I have not followed all of what Sammy has said but in terms of racism in general it is definitely all around us. For me the only solution is finding unity and equality in all races,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Holder as saying.

“I just want equality to excel, to get everyone on the same page. So we can have less fighting, less killing, less adversity in society. For me that is the main message I would like to contribute,” the allrounder added.

Holder further added that the current time has provided the world a perfect opportunity to educate itself about racism and how it affects the victims. He stated that without understanding the causes and implications of racism one would not be able to realise the gravity of the problem.

“We had a brief discussion around it earlier and a lot of things around it come from education as well so I think it’s a perfect time for people to educate themselves about what goes on in other peoples’ experiences of the world.

“Only then can you have a better sense of what is going on around you. To be honest, a lot of people live and not know exactly what goes on around them and this is the perfect time to educate yourselves around it and make a change,” he said.

Daren Sammy had earlier expressed his anger upon realising the meaning of the word “kaalu” and the intent with which it is used in our country from a Netflix show. He had revealed that he and Sri Lankan cricketer Thisara Perera faced racism during their time with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The former West Indies captain then put an Instagram video on Tuesday saying that it was not only the fans and that the Hyderabad players had also offended him. He asked them to provide clarification and issue an apology at the earliest.

 

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So recently I discovered a word that I was being called was not what it actually meant I need some answers. So before I start calling out names I need these individuals to reach out and please tell me there’s another meaning to that word and when I was being called it,it was all in love. #blackandproud #blackandconfident #clarasboy #saynotoracism #stopracism #cricketer #stlucia

A post shared by daren (@darensammy88) on Jun 8, 2020 at 1:18pm PDT

Sammy’s comments came in the wake of massive anti-racism protests in various parts of the world after a black civilian, George Floyd, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, United States of America.

Floyd, aged 46, was choked to death by officer Derek Chauvin. He held Floyd down with a knee on his neck though he repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and “please, I can’t breathe”.