Former South African captain Faf Du Plessis on Friday came in support of Black Lives Matters campaign & said that a comment which he made in January that “we don’t see colour” had been a mistake.
Faf Du Plessis on Friday came out in support of the “Black Lives Matter” campaign & said that a comment he made in January that “we don’t see colour” had been a mistake. The BLM issue has shown up racial divisions in South African Cricket with 30 black former international players claiming this week that racism has always remained a factor in the game. Faf Du Plessis who has resigned as captain of the South African team is available as a player said in an Instagram post that his support for BLM came when there were lots of injustice in South Africa. “If we wait only for the ones that attack us personally, we will always live for ‘my way versus your way’ and that way leads us nowhere,” he said.
Some white South Africans, including former players, have linked the BLM issue with the murder of white farmers, claiming that all lives matter. “I’ve remained silent, with the intent to listen, but not respond,” said Du Plessis. “Slowing down my point of view, but quicker to hear the pain of someone else. I knew that words would be lacking and that my understanding is not close to where it needs to be.
“I surrender my opinions and take the knee as an intercessor. I acknowledge that South Africa is still hugely divided by racism and it is my personal responsibility to do my best to empathize, hear the stories, learn and then be part of the solution with my thoughts, words, and actions.”
Faf Du Plessis said, “I have gotten it wrong before. Good intentions were failed by a lack of perspective when I said on a platform that I don’t see color. In my ignorance, I silenced the struggles of others by placing my own view on it.
“So I am saying that all lives don’t matter until black lives matter. I’m speaking up now, because if I wait to be perfect, I never will. I want to leave a legacy of empathy”, Plessis concluded.
