In the first match, Australia defeated South Africa while the second match was between West Indies and England.
England joined West Indies in taking a knee ✊#BlackLivesMatter | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/FHsMXM5pSQ
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 23, 2021
Before the match between England and West Indies started, the players of both the teams sat on their knees for a while.
But do you know why they did that? In fact, it is a protest against racism that has been carried out by players on the playing field since 2016.
Eric Garner, a black man, was killed by US police in 2014. The policeman strangled Eric Garner and said in a low voice, “I can’t breathe.”
The same thing happened to George Floyd, another black man in the United States after Eric Garner in 2020, and he repeated the same words before he died.
The words have become a symbol of resistance to racism around the world, while the police move has been criticized around the world.
Black people protested in the United States, after which the movement gained momentum and people from all walks of life raised their voices against it in their own way.
The protest reached the playing field, and Colin Kuiper-Nick, the first American footballer to kneel down in 2016, began protesting against racism. American footballers protested on their knees during the national anthem, arguing that they could not stand for the dignity of the country’s national flag where black people are oppressed.
Now, during today’s World Cup match, the players of West Indies and England also sat on their knees for a while and recorded their protest against racism.
The history of kneeling protests against racism goes back to 1965. This year, Martin Luther King, Jr., a black rights activist in the United States, demonstrated on his knees in protest, after which he was arrested.
