Received death threats for supporting BLM movement, reveals Graeme Smith
CSA’s Director of Cricket Graeme Smith has revealed that he received death threats and vile abuses for choosing to side with Lungi Ngidi and show solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement. Ngidi came under fire from ex-Protea cricketers for publicly supporting the BLM movement.
All is not well in South African cricket, as on the back of Cricket South Africa’s president Chris Nenzani announcing his resignation on Monday, Jacques Faul, on Tuesday, stepped down as the CEO of the board. Amidst already existing internal political tension, there has also been a (civil) war of words between Black and white cricketers in the country, with the former speaking out publicly about the racism and discrimination they faced during their playing days.
In the midst of all this chaos, Director of Cricket Graeme Smith, who himself has found himself in a public tussle with former cricket Thami Tsolekile, has revealed that he received death threats for showing solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement.
"It's been a really challenging experience. All of us have found ourselves in a really heated space. We've taken an immense amount of abuse, death threats. It's been an eye-opening experience. It has shocked me how heated things have got,” Cricbuzz quoted Smith as saying.
The issue - which should never have been a controversy in the first place - erupted when fast bowler Lungi Ngidi, during an online press conference, was asked about his stance on the BLM movement. Ngidi spoke in favour of the BLM movement and the need for the country to unite as one and fight against racism but was brutally attacked for his comments by a set of former white South African cricketers, including Pat Symcox, Boeta Dippenaar and Brian McMillan.
Smith, reflecting on the issue, lent his full support to the young quick and reaffirmed that Ngidi’s comments did not warrant verbal attacks. The BLM movement allowed plenty of cricketers of colour to speak out against discrimnation they encountered and Smith revealed that internally, within CSA, things have been handled ‘extremely maturely’ by the people involved.
"Lungi, to my mind, said nothing wrong. He expressed an opinion. He didn't make a statement. He expressed the fact that the team was going to get together and have a conversation. In no way did he deserve to be attacked. What happened to him and the way the guys came at him is entirely wrong.
"Within the space we've handled it extremely maturely. We got together, we listened, the conversation was open, people shared, and we decided to support each other on this movement. The conversation's open, people can listen, people can debate. We can talk to each other.”
Thankfully and rightfully, all South African cricketers who participated in the 3TC Solidarity Cup last month joined hands and raised their voice against discrimination. Players, prior to the start of the fancy one-day competition, took a knee and Andile Phehlukwayo’s celebration - where he unveiled a ‘Black Lives Matter’ t-shirt after taking a wicket - turned out to be the highlight of the competition.