Cricket: Windies great Michael Holding delivers an impassioned speech on racism

Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding has recounted his first experience of racism on tour in Australia | WATCH

West Indies great Michael Holding has delivered an impassioned plea in which he said that society has been “brainwashed” into accepting racism and the only way to combat it is through education.

The former fast bowler spoke powerfully and emotionally on the subject during a rain delay on the opening day of the first Test between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

The 66-year-old was joined by his fellow Sky Sports pundit Ebony Rainford-Brent, the first black woman to play cricket for England, as they told of their experiences of racism and explained why the Black Lives Matter movement is vital.

“When people reply to me saying ‘all lives matter’ or ‘white lives matter’ — please,” Holding said. “We black people know white lives matter — I don’t think you know black lives matter. So please don’t shout back ‘white lives matter’; the evidence is clearly there that white lives matter. We want black lives to matter now.”

Holding, who took 249 Test wickets, said he experienced little racism growing up in Jamaica and first encountered it during tours to Australia and England. The solution, he said, was widespread teaching on the genesis and spread of racism.

“I went to Australia on my very first tour, 75-76, I had never experienced racism while on the cricket field...but I heard comments being passed [from the crowd] and I just thought, ‘these people are sick,’” Holding said.

“Education is important unless we want to continue living like this and having demonstrations every now and again,” he said. “When I say education, I mean going back in history. People need to understand this thing stems from hundreds of years ago. The dehumanisation of the black race is where it started. People say, ‘That was a long time ago, get over it’. No, you don’t get over something like that.

“How do you get rid of it in society? By educating people, both black and white. I hear people talking about brainwashing and I didn’t understand as a young man what that meant but now I understand. We have been brainwashed in different ways.”

In a segment with Rainford-Brent, Holding referenced the 1984 West Indies Test series against England, which the tourists won 5-0 and which was celebrated with signs that said “blackwash” — something Holding feels was a necessary action by people from the Caribbean living in England. He said: “What is this whitewash thing? Why has everything good got to be white?”

He drew attention to the way that division pervades our education. “You can tell me who invented the lightbulb: Thomas Edison. Everybody knows that he invented the lightbulb, but he invented a lightbulb with a paper filament — it burnt out in no time at all. Can you tell me who invented the filament that makes our lights shine? Nobody knows because it was black man. It is not taught in schools. His name was Lewis Howard Latimer — he invented the carbon filament.

“Everything should be taught. I was never taught anything good about black people and you can’t have a society that only teaches what is convenient. History is written by the conquerors, not those that were conquered. History is written by the people who do the harm, not by those who get harmed, and we need to go back and teach both sides of history and until we do that and educate the entire human race, this thing will not stop.

That’s the most powerful half an hour of TV I’ve seen for a long, long time.

The Michael Holding story about the invention of the filament light bulb was extraordinary.

Fantastic work @SkyCricket

— Robin Chipperfield (@sportchippers) July 8, 2020

“People tell me there is no such thing as white privilege — give me a break. I don’t see any white people going into a store on Oxford Street and being followed. A black man walks in, someone is following him everywhere he goes. That is basic white privilege. Whether the white person is going to rob the place or not, he is not thought of that way. And things have to change.”

The first day of the Test will also be remembered for the powerful statement made by the West Indies players taking a knee before the start of play and raising their right fists in black gloves. Roddy Estwick, the West Indies bowling coach, said that the team wore black gloves to have “more impact”.

“We felt we want to do something slightly different. Everybody was taking a knee and raising the right hand and we felt that if we wanted to make a bigger statement that would have more impact, we would wear the black gloves. It must have made a difference because people have commented on it.

“It was a good feeling because we have to make change. For us it’s all about honesty, it’s all about treating everybody equally. It was really wonderful to see England supporting us as well and it came off very well.

“I didn’t hear Mikey’s [Holding] speech but one or two of the guys were talking about it and said it was a powerful one.”

Rainford-Brent, who was a World Cup-winner in 2009 and sits on the Surrey management board, elaborated on her troubles with racism. “I grew up in a very multicultural, diverse London,” she said. “I noticed as soon as I walked into the world of cricket, comments started.

“I had comments about where I grew up. The fact that I had a long name, maybe I didn’t know who my dads were, about my hair, about body parts, especially the derriere, shall we say, about the food I ate and that it stank. It was constant. All these sort of things were drip-fed constantly.

“I questioned sometimes why I stayed so long. I love the game, it has so much more to offer, but it can be really difficult dealing with that day in, day out.”

Nasser Hussain, the former England captain who was born in India, also said that he had been subjected to racism in England and gave an impassioned defence of wearing the Black Lives Matter logo.

“We have all been looking away too long,” he said. “The players should be proud of wearing these badges, we should be proud of wearing these badges, but really it’s 2020. We have to wear a badge saying Black Lives Matter? That should be a given.”

Rain delayed the start of play and only 17.4 overs were bowled, with England 1-35 at stumps.

The Times