JOHANNESBURG – As elegant as any of his trademark flick of the wrist shots through the leg side which yielded thousands of runs for South Africa, legendary Proteas batsman Hashim Amla wrote an eloquent message of support for Lungi Ngidi and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
Ngidi was the first in SA cricket to speak out in support of BLM, and he drew criticism from some former players with archaic stances like Boeta Dippenaar and Pat Symcox. However, 31 of SA’s prominent current and former players have also backed Ngidi’s stance.
The retired 37-year-old Amla’s name was missing from that list, but the 124 Test stalwart perhaps wished to be more than a signature on a list with a passionate message all of his own.
“The imagined superiority of whites over blacks or blacks over whites, or one nationality over another, is simply delusional,” said Amla in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“Yes that’s right – nothing but delusional.”
“However many of us, including myself have bore the brunt of these delusions and have crazy stories to tell which is why it makes it even more admirable to see exceptional youngsters like @lungingidi doing his bit to represent us all. Thank you brother and all those who stand up for just causes in their own way – publicly and privately.
“I speak for myself and those who share this belief that the end product of being racist is only self destruction and social change.
“There are oppressed people here in this country and the world over, of all colours and walks of life, cricket included. However the darker skinned people have had the worst of it. Some may convince themselves otherwise but you have to ask yourself – are those who know the same as those who don’t know?
“Justice for all is the only true justice that will bring peace and anything else is sadly delusional.
“So why is Black Lives Matter relevant for us ?… because we are all black (to me anyway).
I stand with all those who are oppressed. And I stand with @lungingidi (again).”
Ngidi, 24, last week said referring to the first Test between hosts England and the West Indies in Hampshire: “It is beautiful to see every sporting code showing their support to the Black Lives Matter movement. I saw the West Indies had black gloves on,” said Ngidi on Wednesday.
Sporting codes around the world have backed the BLM movement, including the English Premier League.
“It makes you emotional. It has been a very rough year. People are finally speaking out and it means a lot just to see the cricketing world step in, it is inspiring,” added Ngidi.
African News Agency
