Jamaica: Former West Indies skipper, Darren Sammy raged about the racist comments offered to him in the Indian Premier League (IPL) during his term with the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. He said that he had no knowledge of the meaning of the word used to address him and Thisera Perara and now that he has got aware of it, he is very angry and disappointed. Darren said that he thought the terms in question to mean a ‘strong black man’.
He shared a video of Hasan Minhaj’s show Patriot Act on his Instagram story where the speaker, Mr. Hasan, clarified the meaning of the racist word which basically means a black complexioned person in a mocking way. Dammy wrote saying, ““Oh so that’s what that meant when they called me and Thisara Perera Kalu in India when we played for Sunrisers. I just thought they were calling me strong black man… I’m more piss now.”
He played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in the IPL between the years 2013-2014.
In his next story, Sammy wrote, “I just learnt what that kalu meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They called me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong Stallion. My previous post tells me something different and I am angry.”
He was one of the first cricketers to speak against the racial discrimination prevalent in America. Darren was also the first to get vocal about his support to the ‘black lives matter’ protests in US which had started after a man called George Floyd was killed by the police officials. One of the cops had put his knee on his shoulder for more than eight minutes until he fainted and was declared brought dead in a local hospital.
Sammy, on Tuesday, had requested to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against racism and social injustices in the world.
“@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind. This is not only about America. This happens every day #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u,” Sammy wrote in a tweet.
https://twitter.com/darensammy88/status/1267607426162987009
Sammy’s revelations brought to light the discriminations and racist comments faced by the cricketers when fans cross their limits and speak intolerable and harsh words addressing the hard-working sports athletes.
In another tweet, he wrote, “”For too long black people have suffered. I’m all the way in St Lucia and I’m frustrated If you see me as a teammate then you see #GeorgeFloyd Can you be part of the change by showing your support. #BlackLivesMatter.”
https://twitter.com/darensammy88/status/1267609153385705473
