Former South African skipper Graeme Smith, who is likewise the director of Cricket South Africa, has said that he alongside others, has been exposed to the enormous measure of abuse and death threat for supporting the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
The BLM movement gained worldwide pace after an African-American George Flyod was executed by a white cop who stooped on his neck in Minneapolis, USA. It has found support from a portion of the top athletes and sporting associations in the world.
Cricket players from the West Indies and South Africa, as well, have been vocal about the movement which looks to end racial separation or anything kind of prejudice.
South Africa has a dull history with racial separation and keeps on experiencing the equivalent to date. There have been times when the number of non-white parts in the team additionally accumulates foothold from people in general.
Star South African pacer Lungi Ngidi was likewise exposed to boisterous ambushes from a few white former players including likes of Boeta Dippenaar. Lungi had gestured when asked whether the BLM movement would be discussed among the South African players.
Smith had bolstered Lungi Ngidi and even took a knee in widely watched 3TC Solidarity Cup.
Players Receive Death Threats:
“It’s been a really challenging experience. All of us have found ourselves in a really heated space. We’ve taken an immense amount of abuse, death threats. It’s been an eye-opening experience. It has shocked me how heated things have got.
“Lungi, to my mind, said nothing wrong,” Smith said. “He expressed an opinion. He didn’t make a statement. He expressed the fact that the team was going to get together and have a conversation. In no way did he deserve to be attacked. What happened to him and the way the guys came at him is entirely wrong,” Smith said during a webinar hosted by a financial services company on Tuesday.
“I get that in South Africa we’ve got so many issues. In some ways, it’s felt like we’re bearing the brunt for the government not having delivered on a number of things over the years and the frustration over that.
You pick up the paper or you click online and you see all the negativity and the disappointment and the frustration in people’s lives, and livelihoods being affected,” Smith added.
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