AFL 2020: Heritier Lumumba responds to Collingwood racism review
Former AFL star Heritier Lumumba has released claims of another racism scandal at Collingwood, suggesting the media has been “lied to”.
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Former AFL star Heritier Lumumba has released claims of another racism scandal at Collingwood in an explosive response to the club’s internal review
The Magpies recently announced the club is launching an investigation into Lumumba’s allegations of a “culture of racist jokes” at the club during his 10-year stint in the black-and-white.
Lumumba claims he was nicknamed “chimp”, among other derogatory names, but Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has repeatedly denied ever hearing the term.
Collingwood last week announced research director at the Jumbunna institute of Indigenous education and research at the University of Technology Sydney professor Larissa Behrendt would lead the Collingwood integrity committee’s review into Lumumba’s accusations of racism before his move to the Melbourne Demons in 2015.
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Lumumba took to Twitter to respond to the appointment on Wednesday morning, declaring he was sceptical of some club officials telling the truth to the integrity committee.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Lumumba accused the club of previously ignoring accusations of racism.
It is one of the key reasons he believes the club’s internal investigation into his claims is “deeply flawed.
“I’ve had an opportunity to read Collingwood’s latest statement re its ‘internal review,’ which includes the appointment of Larissa Behrendt,” Lumumba posted on Twitter.
“Unfortunately, this process continues to be deeply flawed. Let me explain.
“Firstly, my claims are not simply about a nickname that has now been confirmed multiple times. This is about me being punished for standing up to racism within my own club — from other players and the president himself.”
A Collingwood spokesperson has told The Herald Sun in response to Lumumba’s latest claims the club does not wish to make any statement until after the internal review is completed.
“We have got a process underway, which has been made pretty transparent and public and we’ll let them do their work and we’ll see what they come up with,” a club spokesperson told The Herald Sun.
Lumumba has also criticised the legitimacy of the investigation because it is solely focused on his accusations and will not be concerned with any other allegation of racism outside of his time at the club from 2005 to 2014.
The most serious claim made by Lumumba in the extraordinary statement is a claim that a former Collingwood cheer squad member reached out to him to reveal their own claims of racism within the club.
“I was recently contacted by a former official CFC cheer squad member, who shared their experiences of witnessing racism within the squad,” he posted.
“Her parents (also in the cheer squad) made formal complaints from 2007-09, but were routinely ignored. Finally, the whole family quit.”
The 33-year-old says his faith in the Collingwood review is further fractured by what he claims was an unsatisfactory response by his own club when former Gold Coast Suns player Joel Wilkinson was alleged to have been racially vilified by a Collingwood fan in 2012.
Wilkinson in 2018 launched legal action against the AFL claiming he was the victim of systemic racism across the AFL community but removed himself from legal proceedings last year. Wilkinson said he was being pushed into a settlement and non-disclosure agreement.
“In a 2012 match between CFC and the Gold Coast Suns, Joel Wilkinson experienced “mass racial abuse” by CFC fans, who made monkey noises at him throughout the game,” Lumumba wrote on Wednesday.
“He has also shared the measures that were taken to create a false narrative about the incident and silence him.
“In 2013, Adam Goodes was vilified by a CFC fan. Is it surprising that both Joel Wilkinson and Adam Goodes suffered the same treatment by CFCs given that they actively ignored formal complaints about racism in their own cheer squad?”
His fresh claim was supported by Wilkinson on Wednesday.
“Backing and standing with my brother on all accounts. There’s a very consistent pattern of AFL clubs and the @AFL racially abusing/failing black players and furthermore misleading and deceiving the public,” Wilkinson wrote in a Twitter post that tagged the official pages of Collingwood, the Gold Coast Suns and the AFL Players’ Association.
“A lot more to come.”
Lumumba went on to accuse senior Collingwood officials of lying about their alleged involvement and knowledge of the racism he claims to have suffered during his time with the club.
“These men have actively lied to the media and the public on multiple occasions,” he says.
Lumumba has previously declared he will not make himself available to be interviewed as part of the club’s investigation.
Collingwood board member and head of the integrity committee Peter Murphy last week said in a statement the club believes the appointment of professor Behrendt would help the club in its pursuit to understand Lumumba’s accusations.
“It has become increasingly clear that in Heritier’s time we were unable to understand his experience; see and hear what he saw and heard. This lack of cultural safety that he and others have recently spoken of is a matter of great concern,” Murphy said.
“We are seeking to understand these experiences of racism and to ensure they have no place in the current Collingwood environment.”
Lumumba recently accused the AFL of hypocrisy surrounding the league’s decision to sanction and support pre-match demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
He also said his chief reason for speaking out against his former club is his pursuit of an acknowledgement from the club that he was a victim of racial vilification.
“There needs to be an acknowledgment (from Collingwood) that, ‘Yes, we haven’t done enough’,” Lumumba told Triple J.
“There needs to be an acknowledgment of the individual cases. In my case I’m demanding simply that the AFL and more specifically the Collingwood Football Club, just acknowledge some facts and admit that they don’t get everything right and they got this one wrong.
“And that they’re ready to sit at the table operating off of that premise.”
Originally published as AFL 2020: Heritier Lumumba responds to Collingwood racism review