In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, the world has also risen to find the vaccine for the racism virus. After the death of 41-year-old George Floyd by a white supremacist police officer Derek Chauvin, the protest against racism disseminated like wildfire around the globe.
Voices for justice seems to echo from every corner to fight against racism. From Hollywood celebrities to sporting legends, taking a knee to fight against racism perhaps has become the order of the day.
Let’s spare a moment to understand whether our beloved cricket has fallen to the prey of racism disease or not?
While players from different disciplines stepped up to voice their opinion against racism, cricketers seem to be in no different mood. To everyone’s surprise, players mainly from the Caribbean island have often been victims of racism when they travel across national borders.
When the universe boss Christopher Henry Gayle took the courage to opine his heartbreaking experiences, the entire cricketing world started to speak in unison to eradicate the roots of racism.
Several other stalwarts from the Windies team staged their painful experiences, which got unfolded down the years in different places. Among them where the likes of Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo. While the former lashed out against the racist remarks passed by few of his sunrises Hyderabad teammates and fans, the later spoke about equality and respect much deserved to them by the game.
The Twitterati exploded with fans pouring out their opinions when Darren Sammy informed the tale of his agony, which he faced during his stay in India. Meanwhile, cricket fans were quick to filter out an image starring Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Darren Sammy captioned as “Me, Bhuvi, K##u, and gun sunrisers”.(k##u- racist remark)
This is to be remembered that Ishant Sharma posted the image in 2014. Earlier in the video, the Windies skipper demanded an apology from every individual who passed racist slur against him. As the post got viral in social media, confession was requested from the Indian pacer.
Let’s check out what the cricket’s governing body has to offer to knock the bails of racism from the game. Against the above backdrop, the international cricket council, better known as ICC, believes there is no place for racism.
In October, the ICC anti-racism policy for international cricket was introduced as part of the ICC anti-racism code continuing efforts to maintain the public image popularity and integrity of cricket.
While the anti-racism policy replaces the previous anti-racism code, the desired aims of the doctrine stand akin. Given the magnitude of the problem, the panel members have more flexibility and discretionary powers.
This anti-racism policy is one of the toughest in world sport. It ensures commitment from ICC and its members to promote and encourage participation at all levels regardless of race, religion, dissent, culture, or ethnicity.
To ensure that there is no racism, members have the power to impart punishment to the spectators found guilty of cracking racial remarks, which may result in ejection from the stadium or ban from the specified from attending cricket matches.
The ICC assists members with the implementation of the new policy; the organization introduced guidelines against racism at the same time when the system was put into place in 2012. It has been monitoring the application of the measures in the cricketing world.
The ICC’s anti-racism code for participation declares that on-field racism is one of the cruelest acts. One needs to face the possibility of the life ban if found guilty for such an offense. Hence this court prohibits racially offensive conduct by participants during international cricket matches.
The ICC has successfully adopted a system of zero-tolerance against racial abuse. However, cricket will become immune to the racism virus only when a few cocky spectators do not crack racial remarks on players returning to their pavilion without troubling the score. The cricketing world will continue to pitch their voice and stand in solidarity against ALL RACIAL oppressions. PERIOD.
In the beautiful words of the stalwart, Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”