Former West Indies cricketer Darren Sammy has revealed that a racial slur was used to call him when he was playing for the Indian Premier League with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sammy said that he and Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perara were called ‘kalu’ during their stint at SRH, but he misunderstood the meaning of the word then.
“I just learnt what that “kalu” meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They call me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong Stallion. My previous post tells me something different and I’m angry,” Sammy wrote on his Instagram story.
In the previous Instagram story, Sammy had posted an IGTV that read ‘Watch my guy @hasanminhaj hold Indians & Asians accountable!!” He wrote that when he was called the word, he thought it meant ‘strong black man’, but he is enraged after finding out what it really meant.
“Oh so that’s what that meant when they called me and @tp_perera kalu in India when we played for Sunrisers. I just thought they were calling me strong black man… I’m more piss now (sic),” he wrote.
In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, who was killed in Minneapolis after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, the topic of racism has been raised in every sphere, including sports, as protests continue in the US.
Last week, in a series of tweets, Sammy had urged the International Cricket Council to take a stand against racism, and if they didn’t, they were part of the problem.
“@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,” he tweeted.
“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,” he said in another tweet.
Another West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle had also said that he was a victim of racism as well. He added that racism existed not only in football, but also in cricket.
Last year, England cricketer Jofra Archer was also subjected to racial abuse by a spectator in New Zealand, prompting the Kiwi players and cricket board to offer apologies to the pacer.
