Heritier Lumumba responds after Nathan Buckley addresses racism claims at Collingwood

An angry Heritier Lumumba has responded to Nathan Buckley after the Collingwood coach addressed accusations of racism at the club.

Lumumba has called on Collingwood to admit its mistakes.

Former Collingwood star Heritier Lumumba has hit out again after Pies coach Nathan Buckley responded to accusations of racism at the club.

Lumumba took to social media this week to detail his experiences during 10 years at the Magpies, claiming he endured a “culture of racist jokes”, was nicknamed “Chimp” and accused Buckley of failing to adequately support him.

After Collingwood’s draw with Richmond in the AFL season re-opener on Thursday night, Buckley said he hadn’t spoken to Lumumba since he was traded to Melbourne at the end of 2014 but was keen to reach out and show the former defender how Collingwood had “been able to grow as an environment” in the time that has passed since Lumumba left.

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Lumumba issued a lengthy response to Buckley’s comments on Twitter.

“Interesting that Collingwood is now shifting its narrative to claim that they are trying to ‘reach out’ to me. Let me very clear: I have no intention of sitting down with anyone until they publicly acknowledge some fundamental facts,” Lumumba wrote.

“Why a public acknowledgment? Because I have been discredited publicly. I don’t want a private handshake. I want justice for how I was treated. That includes correcting public denials about my account of the racism & isolation I faced.

“How can Nathan Buckley claim he ‘didn’t hear’ the ‘chimp’ nickname? I sat through a torturous, 8-hour, 1-on-1 mediation with him, where I had to explain to him why I was affected. How can I take him on his word now? He is yet to correct the record?

“Collingwood needs to acknowledge the following: They did not have the cultural competence and organisational literacy to deal with a real culture of racism at the club, of which I was a victim for a number of years.”

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Lumumba hasn’t been satisfied with Collingwood’s response.

Lumumba repeated his assertion he was ostracised for speaking out when Collingwood president Eddie McGuire made a reference to Swans superstar Adam Goodes and King Kong on radio.

“I was excluded from leadership meetings and suddenly dropped from the leadership group without a reasonable explanation,” Lumumba continued in his Twitter thread.

“I was ultimately forced out of the club. In my final meeting, I was told it was because I had ‘thrown the president under the bus’.

“In short, I was punished as a black man for daring to stand up for myself against slurs from my own teammates. I was punished for being upset that my club president had associated an Indigenous champion of the game with an ape as a joke on radio.

“Collingwood is making statements about their ‘growth’. But this has dragged out over 6yrs because they have refused to take the step of acknowledging that my account of my experience was true. Growth means accountability. Reconciliation without accountability is not possible.”

McGuire addressed Lumumba’s claims earlier this week, saying: “We’re all about trying to get a solution; we’re not defending ourselves.

“I’m really proud of what we do at Collingwood and what we do with our Indigenous programs. We have great leadership from Travis Varcoe.

“If Heritier is still obviously feeling the pain, well reach out. We want to find a solution.”