CAPE TOWN: A group of Proteas have joined the growing list of international sports people and teams to publicly condemn the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman in the US
Floyd, 46, a black man, died in Minneapolis on May 25 – a death now officially classified as a homicide after a white police officer had held him down with his knee on his neck for over eight minutes while he was handcuffed.
The incident, captured on video, has led to a worldwide outpouring of support for victims of racist violence with English football teams like Liverpool and Chelsea’s players photographed on bended knee at training this week.
Proteas Lungi Ngidi, Temba Bavuma, Beuran Hendricks, Tabraiz Shamsi and Andile Phehlukwayo all uploaded a plain black image on Twitter accounts in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Proteas women’s captain Dane van Niekerk and fast bowler Marizanne Kapp also showed their support.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Dane' van Niekerk(@danevanniekerk) on Jun 2, 2020 at 2:17am PDT
Bavuma went further by posting the tagline “My skin is not a sin”, while Ngidi posted an image quoting John Coffey: “I’m tired, boss. Mostly I’m tired of people being ugly to each other.”
— Lungi Ngidi (ung’bukani wena😕) (@NgidiLungi) June 2, 2020
Cricket SA have yet to release an official statement on the issue as yet, although the England Cricket Board have tweeted a photo promoting diversity.
We stand for diversity,
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 1, 2020
We stand against racism. pic.twitter.com/onhWj07n2i
With many of the West Indies players such as Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy also voicing their disapproval of the killing of Floyd on social media, Cricket West Indies steadfastly posted their position in a statement and changing of their official logo.
“Cricket West Indies stands together with the millions around the world in the battle against racism and the fight for equality and justice. The people of the West Indies have fought many battles of our own, on and off the field. We have been blessed to witness the prowess, determination and leadership of our cricketing heroes who united the Caribbean and brought great success and pride to our people."
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewProfilePic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/SOhs9iN5by
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket)