"You Can Have Team Of Blacks": Ian Chappell Recalls His First Brush With Racism

Cricketers have shared their experience of facing racism in wake of George Floyd killing. George Floyd, a black man, was killed on May 25 in the Powderhorn community of Minneapolis, Minnestoa in the United States after an officer, Derek Chauvin, kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

Chauvin was fired from the police department, with protesters taking on the country in large number, demanding justice for Flyod with a clear message reading ‘Black Lives Matter’. The ex-police officer was charged with third-degree murder and second degree-man slaughter in the case and is due to appear in the court later this month.

Ian Chappell: An ignorant patron told Graham Thomas why don’t you pick Gary Sobers

“As a youngster growing up in a family where there was no notable prejudice, despite being in the era of the White Australia Policy, I wasn’t really aware of racism,” he wrote on espncricinfo.

“My first overseas tour was to South Africa in 1966-67 and it was an eye-opener. The apartheid regime was in power and we got a taste of its abhorrent nature after winning the second Test in Cape Town,” he remembered.

“‘Why don’t you pick Garry Sobers? Then you’ll have a team full of blacks’ was the offensive comment directed at Australian batsman Grahame Thomas by an ignorant patron in the team hotel. Thomas has Native American lineage dating back to the days of slavery,” he said.

Racial abuse has been a cause of concern for a long time and should be stopped immediately as every human being is precious and the color of the skin should not be used as a measure to judge someone.