Former West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy recently has been on a revelation spree, disclosing instances of racism he faced during his career.
Earlier, Sammy alleged that he was at the receiving end of racist slurs during his stay at Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL seasons between 2013-2015.
The revelation came in the aftermath of a recent episode of Patriot Act by Hasan Minaj, where he talked about casual racism in the Asian household, calling members of the family ‘Kalu’. Sammy took to social media to state he perceived the meaning as a strong man and a strong stallion.
“No, I knew. I knew the meaning. For me it meant strong stallion. That’s what I understood it meant. So there was no reason for me to go back and say it was a racial or a degrading thing,” Sammy told Espncricinfo.
Now, Sammy has realised that he wasn’t aware of the meaning of the word, even when former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was penalised for using the same ‘word’ against South African all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo.
“I heard Sarfaraz used (a) racial slur, but I did not really dive into the story. I saw it pop up, but I did not get into the details. I wasn’t aware it was that word he used back then,” he recalled.
The incident took place in one of the ODIs during Pakistan’s tour of South Africa in 2018-19.
The South African, while executing a cover drive, was lucky to get an edge which ran the ball down to the fine leg. To which, the then Pakistan captain used the racist slur while sledging the South African.
“But I know he issued an apology right after. That in itself is why I am having this conversation – whether you didn’t mean it in any way like that we need to stop. That is why I want to have a conversation with the people who used it in the dressing room. Let’s stop it for us to avoid situations like what Sarfaraz did thinking it was innocent. If it could mean anything that could be taken as degrading or insulting, you don’t use it. Full stop,” concluded Sammy.
