Racism In Cricket Is Evident, But Sweetly Ignored By Fans And Authorities

While Daren Sammy’s case is the latest where a black man has been abused for his color of skin, there have been various precedents set before it...

- Abhishek Singh

Indians, who were trying to tell former West Indian captain, Daren Sammy that he was called ‘Kalu’ with endearment and in a fun way, are wrong. Our society ignores racism easily and has normalized it to a level that complains of being faced with or abused by racist slurs are not given any importance.

With the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests on ‘Black Lives Matter’ and West Indies cricketers raising the issue of being subjected to racial slurs, the Cricket fraternity is now under the scanner.

Racism has various manifestations in the world of cricket. From being compared to Islamic terrorists for a long beard to calling people monkey or black c**nt based on their facial features to outrightly mocking the color of somebody’s skin or the work that dark-skinned people are associated with, tells us that racism is not only present but deeply ingrained in the cricket world.

RACISM AGAINST BLACK CRICKETERS

While Daren Sammy’s case is the latest where a black man has been abused for his color of skin, there have been various precedents set before it. Michael Carberry, who played six Tests for the England team recently said in a podcast that he could have played more domestic cricket, but was tired of being seen as “the angry black man”.

Carberry also claimed that “cricket is rife with racism” and that “the people running the game don’t care about black people.” While some might call his claims to be outrageous, but if corroborated with the pieces of evidence that we have had since in the past in the form of open and disguised discrimination of black people at the hands of the white, they would make sense.