STRAIGHT SHOOTER

Photos: AP | EPA By: STUART HESS

Taking the knee ahead of sports matches in the fight against racism has become an evocative issue. Michael Holding explains why it must continue

MICHAEL Holding was a great fast bowler. There would be some who would argue that he morphed into an even better commentator.

But for many he is now a revered social activist, who is at the forefront of the fight against racism and oppression. The West Indies legend recently stirred up emotions at Cricket South Africa’s Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings when he explained the global importance of sports personalities taking the knee.

Michael Holding was an integral part of the legendary West Indies teams of the 1970’s and 80s that also featured Colin Croft (left), Joel Garner (second left) and Gordon Greenidge (second right).

“It is so important for people to understand why we kneel, and for people to understand that it is not an aggressive move,” Holding, who played 60 Tests for the West Indies, said.

“People need to understand that gesture. It is the worldwide accepted gesture of realising and supporting the fact that things have not been right, and we need to set them right.”

“Kneeling is not any racist, Marxist or political movement. It is a human movement that we need to recognise and to accept. We need to kneel to show, and then we hopefully all rise together.”

Author of the evocative book “Why We Kneel, How We Rise” released earlier this year, Holding stressed that taking the knee is not a denouncement of any personal beliefs or faith.

“We are not asking people to say that their race is bad, we are not asking anything like that, it is for people to learn, why we kneel and also understand that we can rise,” said Holding.

“When I say ‘we’ I’m not just talking about people of colour, ‘we’ is in respect of humankind. I have seen a Swedish women’s football team take the knee. There’s no problem of race relations and colour in Sweden, but they can identify with the fact that things have not been right and things need to change. ‘We’ is not just people of colour, the ‘we’ is humankind, kneeling and rising together.”

Holding further explained that unlike the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, where it was predominantly black people who demonstrated, following George Floyd’s murder In Minnesota last year, there was a much broader range of races demonstrating now.

“People are coming together and recognising that the world needs fixing,” he said. “I’ve been (to South Africa) many times. I can see it is a great country, but everyone has to work together and accept each other. There are differences, yes, but the differences should not make things that difficult for us to see each other as humans and as one.”

Proteas Men’s captain Temba Bavuma takes a knee ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup match against Australia in Abu Dhabi.