Raju Korti
It is not for me to even talk about something as barbaric and inhuman as the color of human skin. To me, it has always been one of the worst forms of torture because it is directed at something you never asked for and something you can never change.
I came to grips with this bitter truth as a youngster who was the only dark boy amongst all cousins. "Look, the other children in the family are so fair," was thrown at me with such regularity that a time came when I actually started to feel proud about the color my skin.
Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is cultivated behavior towards persons with dissimilar characteristics. That is the simple, unvarnished truth when you see racism travel from the four confined walls of your house to even playgrounds. Through subtle references and these days in more violent ways, racism continues to scourge all walks life even in this millennium.
The immediate provocation for this blog is the racist slur by Pakistan cricket captain Sarfraz Ahmed ridiculing South African Andile Phehlukwayo as "Abe kaale..." (you dirty black). Sarfraz has since apologized as most others do after being caught in the eye of storm but his so called regrets were also colored, as in his skewed wisdom, his remark was "unfortunately captured" by the stump mic. Indians, by and large, have always been the target of racism although they are not entirely clean themselves. I recall BBC Test Match Special commentator Brian Johnston referring to the Indian crowd at the Oval in 1971 as a "dirty black crowd". Johnston tried to cover it up later by saying it was a slip of the tongue as what he actually intended to say was "dirty black cloud because it was overcast. Chuckles from his colleagues in the commentator's box proved that the tongue had not slipped. Slip of tongue is not associated with the silver-tongued British. Not at least when they make racist comments. In the past teams from Australia, England and New Zealand would make an exaggerated show of their anti-India expression. Indian food made them puke, Indian beds with their bugs gave them sleepless nights and the drive across to venues creaky and back-breaking. Of course, they wouldn't mind playing in India for money because the gains in their own country were nothing to rave about. That most foreign players now sing paens to Indian hospitality, especially during the Mr Moneybags IPL is conclusive evidence.
A number of Indians see Australia as a nice place, but with racist people. Just as the western world's concept of India is frequently based on the stereotypes of poverty and exotica, many Indians' idea of Australia is that it remains a land of boorish ex-convicts. Remember how the talented David Hookes was punched to death by bar bouncers after a drunken argument. It is equally true that many Indians are boorish, racist and therefore culpable themselves. They commonly use offensive labels to describe ethnicity. Many think nothing of subjecting visiting players to vile abuse. In Mumbai, considered the Mecca of Indian cricket, Brad Hogg was jeered some years back as a b- - - - -d.
Hogg is probably just another player. Geoff Boycott (and Andrew Flintoff) poked fun at the West Indians yesterday after being thrashed by 381 runs. Barely a few weeks earlier, Australia's greatest non-turning leg spinner Kerry O' Keefe made cheap cracks at Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara. The comments were not per se racist but they were born out of you-know-what. Keefe finished his bowling career with an average of 31 plus and doing better in one-dayers averaging almost 40. A classic case of pot calling the kettle black. I remember to have read a story in The Guardian where Boycott, while speaking at an informal gathering, claimed that the Knighthood honor was handed out like "confetti" to West Indian greats like Viv Richards and Curtly Ambrose while ignoring English cricketers since it was (then) last received by Alec Bedser in 1997. Note that Ian Botham was Knighted in 2007 not for his cricketing exploits but for his services to charity. The racist undertones in Boycott's irritation was unmistakable.
Australian and English teams have routinely included sons of immigrants even as their cricket boards have, as a matter of regulation, claimed to have zero tolerance towards racism in cricket. The cynical may view this as good optics and nothing more, but it can't be entirely like that. In school we often referred to the England cricket team as "bhaadotri team" (team made up of mostly foreign players). Unlike South Africa which has a racial quota in its team, Australia and England are not mandated to select players on the basis of race. In 2011, Islamabad-born Usman Khawaja made his debut a mere five years after moving to Australia. He even married an Australian woman who later converted to Islam.
Indians are no less racists. West Indians and Zimbabweans are referred to as "kaale kalute" (contemptuous term for blacks). But then, let's face facts. India is estimated to have around five million immigrants. If one of them were to qualify for selection in the Indian team, are we ready to accept him? In the 85 plus history of Indian cricket, no player of foreign origin has played for India. That sums up the story.
The Australian team battling a crisis of credibility, promised 'elite honesty' as they prepared for a home Test series in India. There was a heated racist banter between rival players during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy although the dust settled down as quickly as it rose. What grabbed attention is the noise outside the field. During the Melbourne Test fans were ejected from the ground after multiple warnings following racist chants of "Show us your Visa" directed at Indian players. The atmosphere in the Australian commentary box was also unhealthy although not as toxic with rabble-rousers adding fuel to fire. While the Indian management expressed its hurt at the caustic Australian commentary the Australian commentators did not even receive a rap on their knuckles. Fox Sports in particular. Worse, Dean Jones called South African Hashim Amla a terrorist, least bothered he was on air and the cricketing world was listening to that insensitive and intemperate innuendo. It was almost a month later after coming back home, Jones said rather condescendingly he was sorry for making that "stupid remark."
Anyone who cares to listen to the audio of those barbs in the veil of commentary will recognize the tone of contempt and rabid racism. What was seen in Melbourne was disgraceful. Commentators mocking players, their achievements, their system, their names. The funniest part of this charade is contrite apologies are accepted later with a resolve to move on but no one realizes the damage is done.
I guess what remains now is outright abuse and physical fights.
It is not for me to even talk about something as barbaric and inhuman as the color of human skin. To me, it has always been one of the worst forms of torture because it is directed at something you never asked for and something you can never change.
I came to grips with this bitter truth as a youngster who was the only dark boy amongst all cousins. "Look, the other children in the family are so fair," was thrown at me with such regularity that a time came when I actually started to feel proud about the color my skin.
Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is cultivated behavior towards persons with dissimilar characteristics. That is the simple, unvarnished truth when you see racism travel from the four confined walls of your house to even playgrounds. Through subtle references and these days in more violent ways, racism continues to scourge all walks life even in this millennium.
The immediate provocation for this blog is the racist slur by Pakistan cricket captain Sarfraz Ahmed ridiculing South African Andile Phehlukwayo as "Abe kaale..." (you dirty black). Sarfraz has since apologized as most others do after being caught in the eye of storm but his so called regrets were also colored, as in his skewed wisdom, his remark was "unfortunately captured" by the stump mic. Indians, by and large, have always been the target of racism although they are not entirely clean themselves. I recall BBC Test Match Special commentator Brian Johnston referring to the Indian crowd at the Oval in 1971 as a "dirty black crowd". Johnston tried to cover it up later by saying it was a slip of the tongue as what he actually intended to say was "dirty black cloud because it was overcast. Chuckles from his colleagues in the commentator's box proved that the tongue had not slipped. Slip of tongue is not associated with the silver-tongued British. Not at least when they make racist comments. In the past teams from Australia, England and New Zealand would make an exaggerated show of their anti-India expression. Indian food made them puke, Indian beds with their bugs gave them sleepless nights and the drive across to venues creaky and back-breaking. Of course, they wouldn't mind playing in India for money because the gains in their own country were nothing to rave about. That most foreign players now sing paens to Indian hospitality, especially during the Mr Moneybags IPL is conclusive evidence.
A number of Indians see Australia as a nice place, but with racist people. Just as the western world's concept of India is frequently based on the stereotypes of poverty and exotica, many Indians' idea of Australia is that it remains a land of boorish ex-convicts. Remember how the talented David Hookes was punched to death by bar bouncers after a drunken argument. It is equally true that many Indians are boorish, racist and therefore culpable themselves. They commonly use offensive labels to describe ethnicity. Many think nothing of subjecting visiting players to vile abuse. In Mumbai, considered the Mecca of Indian cricket, Brad Hogg was jeered some years back as a b- - - - -d.
Hogg is probably just another player. Geoff Boycott (and Andrew Flintoff) poked fun at the West Indians yesterday after being thrashed by 381 runs. Barely a few weeks earlier, Australia's greatest non-turning leg spinner Kerry O' Keefe made cheap cracks at Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara. The comments were not per se racist but they were born out of you-know-what. Keefe finished his bowling career with an average of 31 plus and doing better in one-dayers averaging almost 40. A classic case of pot calling the kettle black. I remember to have read a story in The Guardian where Boycott, while speaking at an informal gathering, claimed that the Knighthood honor was handed out like "confetti" to West Indian greats like Viv Richards and Curtly Ambrose while ignoring English cricketers since it was (then) last received by Alec Bedser in 1997. Note that Ian Botham was Knighted in 2007 not for his cricketing exploits but for his services to charity. The racist undertones in Boycott's irritation was unmistakable.
Australian and English teams have routinely included sons of immigrants even as their cricket boards have, as a matter of regulation, claimed to have zero tolerance towards racism in cricket. The cynical may view this as good optics and nothing more, but it can't be entirely like that. In school we often referred to the England cricket team as "bhaadotri team" (team made up of mostly foreign players). Unlike South Africa which has a racial quota in its team, Australia and England are not mandated to select players on the basis of race. In 2011, Islamabad-born Usman Khawaja made his debut a mere five years after moving to Australia. He even married an Australian woman who later converted to Islam.
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| The truth in Black and White: Boycott & Richards (File grab). |
The Australian team battling a crisis of credibility, promised 'elite honesty' as they prepared for a home Test series in India. There was a heated racist banter between rival players during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy although the dust settled down as quickly as it rose. What grabbed attention is the noise outside the field. During the Melbourne Test fans were ejected from the ground after multiple warnings following racist chants of "Show us your Visa" directed at Indian players. The atmosphere in the Australian commentary box was also unhealthy although not as toxic with rabble-rousers adding fuel to fire. While the Indian management expressed its hurt at the caustic Australian commentary the Australian commentators did not even receive a rap on their knuckles. Fox Sports in particular. Worse, Dean Jones called South African Hashim Amla a terrorist, least bothered he was on air and the cricketing world was listening to that insensitive and intemperate innuendo. It was almost a month later after coming back home, Jones said rather condescendingly he was sorry for making that "stupid remark."
Anyone who cares to listen to the audio of those barbs in the veil of commentary will recognize the tone of contempt and rabid racism. What was seen in Melbourne was disgraceful. Commentators mocking players, their achievements, their system, their names. The funniest part of this charade is contrite apologies are accepted later with a resolve to move on but no one realizes the damage is done.
I guess what remains now is outright abuse and physical fights.
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