Racism: Holding and Rainford-Brent do some plain speaking

Michael Anthony Holding, one of the feared West Indies pace bowlers from the 1970s and 1980s, bowled his best spell on 10 July, in front of the TV cameras.

Holding, in England to commentate on the Test series between England and the West Indies, took part in a roundtable on the Black Lives Matter protests which have been sweeping the world recently after an African-American man, George Floyd, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25.

Holding speaks frankly, Very frankly. Along with former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent, he spoke about the issues he had faced as a black man, the problems in cricket and how they could be resolved.

There was no bitterness in his voice, just audible pain and sadness. At one point, he came close to breaking down and later told one of the hosts that the memory of his mother being ostracised by her own family because she had married a very dark man had led to this.

Holding spoke of the need for education, to wipe out the centuries of conditioning that have resulted in black people knowing that white lives matter, while white people do not really care about black lives. He cited studies from American universities like Yale to make his points.

And much as white people will dismiss whatever he says, one could not escape the fact that here was a 66-year-old who had seen it all and some calling for a sane solution to the ills of racism.

He provided examples of racism from each of England, South Africa and Australia. In England, he cited the case when he was trying to flag down a cab while going home with his wife-to-be – a woman of Portuguese ancestry who is white. The driver had his meter up to indicate his cab was not occupied, but then on seeing Holding quickly offed the meter light and drove on. An Englishman of West Indian descent who recognised Holding, called out to him, “Hey Mikey, you have to put her in front.” To which Holding, characteristically, replied, “I would rather walk.”

In Australia, he cited a case during a tour; the West Indies teams were always put on a single floor in any hotel they stayed in. Holding said he and three of his fast bowling colleagues were coming down in a lift when it stopped at a floor on the way down. “There was a man waiting there,” Holding said. “He looked at us and did not get into the lift. That’s fine, maybe he was intimidated by the presence of four, big black men.

“But then, just before the lift doors closed, he shouted a racial eipthet at us.

And in South Africa, Holding cited a case when he and his Portuguese friend had gone to a hotel to stay. Someone came to him and was getting the details to book him in; meanwhile some other hotel staffer went to his companion and tried to book her in. “To their way of thinking, she could not possibly be with me, because she was white,” was Holding’s comment. “After all, I am black, am I not?”

Rainford-Brent, who took part in a formal video with Holding, also ventilated the problems that black women cricketers faced in England and spoke with tremendous feeling about the lack of people of colour at any level of the sport.

She was in tears occasionally as she spoke, as frankly as Holding, but again with no bitterness of the travails black people have when they join up to play cricket.

One only hopes that the talk does not end there and something is done about equality. Sky Sports, the broadcaster which ran this remarkable and unusual discussion, has pledged put 30 million pounds into efforts to narrow the gap. Holding’s view was that if enough big companies got involved then the gap would close that much faster.

If he has hope after what he has endured, then there is no reason why the rest of us should not.