Cricket legend Michael Holding speaks to the biggest Black names in the sporting world for his new book on racism and discrimination; what lessons does it hold for a communalised India?
Japan’s Naomi Osaka wears a face mask with the name, Ahmaud Arbery stenciled on it after winning her third round US Open match in 2020. Arbery, 25, an unarmed African-American man, was pursued and fatally shot while jogging in Georgia. Pic/Getty Images
Naomi Osaka has won two US Open and two Australian Open titles. Born to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother, she has lived in the US since she was three. Her fearless personality, charm and ability have made her one of the most famous sports stars in the world. When I say ‘tennis player’, I should also say activist.
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Because Naomi doesn’t want to be labelled or restricted by her occupation. When she started winning matches and tournaments, she realised she had a voice. She had some power.
She agreed to have a chat with me about the issues that Black people face in America and why she would continue to take a stand. We got in touch after she had won her second US Open at the age of 22.
I am full of admiration for her stance because I know that I couldn’t–and didn’t–have the wherewithal or the courage to do the same when I was that age. For her, though, it was easy to put her head above the parapet. Her attitude was ‘let the haters hate.’
Michael Holding
‘When I got involved with spreading the BLM message, did I consider there could be a backlash? From fans? Sponsors? I’ve been asked that question a lot and I can honestly say it was never a consideration or something that entered my head.’
And there has been backlash, of course. A young Black woman speaking her mind and showing strength? Whoa.
Naomi wasn’t always destined to be an activist. She was quiet, kept herself to herself. Even on the tennis court. And, of course, she is not literally tired of having these conversations about equality. She’s having them all over. She was on the front cover of Vogue. She wrote an article for Esquire magazine. She never ducks a question. And I’m grateful she didn’t duck mine. Believe me, there are plenty of sports personalities with her profile you can’t even get close to.
‘I’m vocal because I believe in the movement and want to try to use my platform to facilitate change. Being silent is never the answer. Everyone should have a voice in the matter and use it.
‘What I’m searching for is equality. For Black people to have the same chances and opportunities as everyone else. But before we can even get that far, we need to fix systemic racism within institutions that are supposed to protect us, like the police. This is a huge problem in the USA that dates back years and years.
‘How we change those systems is a question that I don’t have a precise answer for, but I feel my role is to use my platform to shine a light on what’s happening so that those in positions of leadership can start working on solutions.’
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Mercy, this is coming from someone just 22 years old at the time!
I don’t think anyone has the answer and I admire the youthful curiosity–impatience even–that Naomi has about there being something to be found or searched for. There are clues to that in her personality–during the lockdown, she wanted to learn the guitar but she couldn’t get the hang of the chords quickly enough so moved on. And in 2014 she hinted in that article for Esquire at her sadness that change wasn’t coming fast enough.
‘Black people have been fighting this oppression alone for so many years and progress has been fleeting at best. Being “not racist” is not enough. We have to be anti-racist.’
For Naomi, the first death that affected her deeply was that of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, killed in Sanford, Florida, in February 2012. Trayvon had been walking home after buying food from a shop. George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch member, saw him and called the police because he looked suspicious. Now what is suspicious about a kid walking on the way home while eating? Was it the fact that he was wearing a hoodie? What if it had been a white 17-year-old?
What occurred next wouldn’t have happened, may I suggest, if he had been a white boy. Zimmerman challenged Trayvon. There was an altercation. And Zimmerman fatally shot him. Was Zimmerman quickly arrested? Nope. It took six weeks. And that after a national campaign by Trayvon’s parents. I wonder how long it would have taken had a Black guy shot someone in ‘self-defence’? Zimmerman was acquitted at trial.
‘I vividly remember when Trayvon Martin was shot and thinking, Wow, that could easily have been me,’ Naomi says. ‘That was a landmark moment in my life and really opened my eyes.’ She was fourteen at the time and only living about three hours’ drive away.
‘To see the same things happening over and over still, is sad. Things have to change.’
But it keeps happening, Naomi.
‘How do we prevent this movement from becoming just another hashtag, something that only pricks the consciousness when there is an outrage–however fleeting–on a social media platform? And how do we keep this relevant because we don’t want it only being important again when another tragedy happens? It’s tough. I don’t think Black people can do it alone and we need allies. I think what has set the movement apart this time from previously is that more people from various backgrounds have been out there marching. And not just “liberal” and “progressive” ones; I’ve seen all different types of people take to the street. We need to keep shining the light as a global community. I even saw marches in Japan, which was super encouraging.’
As someone who is, shall we say, a little older, and has seen a lot more abuse than Naomi, I could easily say there is no hope, but I have to agree with her sentiments regarding progress. I also noticed the demographics of those marching for BLM during the summer of 2020. If you keep on highlighting it, at some point there’ll be a reaction and something will happen.
And I think people are beginning to take notice. We will keep on getting incidents and we need people to keep on saying, ‘No, it’s got to stop.’ It’s just a matter of it taking longer than it should. But if you say nothing, or you do nothing, nothing happens. If you keep on making reference to it and you keep on doing something and saying something about it, eventually, action is taken. Taking a knee: it’s not difficult. It’s not time-consuming.
But it keeps the conversation going.
The people who want the status quo to remain, those who feel threatened by Black people having equality, perhaps because they think they will have less of everything (money, freedom, opportunity), and the people who believe they are superior will look for any loose thread to pick at so they can try to unravel it.
An example of just the sort of attitude you often get from people when you talk about equality is this. A friend of mine–an ex-friend, actually, because I no longer seek his counsel–said to me after I had made my Sky speech: ‘Why do you want to punish white people?’ Wow. I don’t. Black people don’t. We just want to be treated the same way. And it’s very interesting, isn’t it, that the idea of Black people being on the same level as white people gives rise to a feeling that somebody is being punished, or dealt a bad hand. One of the best placards I saw during the BLM protests addressed that very same point quite appropriately in my opinion. It read: ‘It is not a pie. Equality for us doesn’t mean less for you.’
Fear and loathing are the root cause of it all. To break it down simply: there is a fear about Black people precisely because white people are terrified that we will do what they did to us if we are given half the chance. ‘Why do you think there are even detractors against the movement?’ Naomi asks. ‘It seems so reasonable to me that all we want is equality. I can’t think of any rationale. A lack of education and empathy maybe?’
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Edited excerpts from Why We Kneel, How We Rise by Michael Holding, published by Simon and Schuster
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