The watershed moment of the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) in cricket came when the English and West Indian cricketers took the knee in support of the movement in late July. But the matter has been raised once again as the South African coach Mark Boucher refused the proposal of taking the knee in the upcoming series against England.
Reacting to it, Chris Jordan, the English all-rounder of Bajan origin said that the decision and the situation to form that decision depends upon the individual and he too is of the opinion that real change would come from the acceptance of reality, long conversations, and change within.
“The situation is very individual; a lot of the honest work going on around the matter will be done in private. The real change will come through conversations one-on-one with people. If that is what they (South Africa) as an organization believe in then I don’t think it should be judged from any other point of view than it is a personal decision. We can move on.”
Although the England team stopped the practice of taking the knee since the Australian series, Jordan, 32, still believes that taking the knee was beneficial for the spread of the movement through visual media.
“One hundred percent yes,” he said on whether taking the knee useful. “But I am quite open-minded around the topic in terms of the different types of work that can be done. Taking the knee is something very visual that people see especially when they turn on sport,” he added.
Boucher, the South African coach had earlier said that they might wear a black armband, but that would for a large range of issues including covid-19, gender sensitivity, and racial discrimination as well, but not particularly for BLM.
“It's not something that we have to continue to show. It's something that you have to live. That is exactly what we are trying to doing our dressing room at the moment with a big squad. If guys who brought it up are happy with it, that's great, but if they feel we have to do more, that will be a chat and that they are open to express their opinions,” he said about the BLM.
England are in South Africa to play two limited over series (T20Is and ODIs) of three-match each, starting with the first T20I in Newlands, Capetown on 27th November.
Powered by Froala Editor