Former West Indies Captian and Former RCB player, Darren Sammy has come out in the open and as accused his Indian teammates in the Indian Premier League of using racist slurs against him.
On Tuesday, the cricket posted a video on Social Media and said that his teammates at Sunrisers Hyderabad used to call him “Kaalu” which is a Hindi slang used to refer black people and also confessed that he didn’t know it back then. In the video, he said,
“I was listening to an Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj talking about how some of the people in his culture view or describe black people. I was angry after listening to him describing a word that they use to describe black people, which he was saying is not in a good way.. and it was degrading. Instantly, I remembered when I played for Sunrisers in 2013 and 2014, I was being called the exact same word he described that was degrading to us black people.”
Sammy also further said that he would text his Indian teammates seeking an apology from them. Soon after he posted that, Chris Gayle, another Windies player, retweeted his tweet and wrote,
“It’s never too late to fight for the right cause or what you’ve experienced over the years! So much more to your story. As I said, it’s in the game!”
This has sparked debate on social media as users are defending the Indian cricketers. Some of them pointed out that “kaalu” is not always used as a racist slur and while others spun a Pakistani narrative around the issue.
Irrfan Pathan And Dwayne Bravo Supports Sammy
Former Indian Cricketer, Irfan Pathan, also added fuel to the burning fire and said that racism is not restricted to the color of your skin. He wrote,
“Racism is not restricted to the color of the skin. Not allowing to buy a home in society just because you have a different faith is a part of racism too.”
Dwayne Bravo, another Windies cricketer and a popular face on the Indian Premier League, became the third cricketer from Windies to support Darren Sammy. In an Instagram live chat with Zimbabwe Commentator, Pommie Mbangwa, he said,
“It’s sad to see what’s going on around the world. As a black man, we know the history of what black people have been through. We never ask for revenge, we ask for equality and respect. That’s it.”
Source: Hindustan Times
