'Teach real history instead of...': Sangakkara opines on how racism can be eradicated

Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara opined on ways to eradicate racism and pointed out that education without values will not help in uprooting the social evil. Calling for 'real history' to be taught to children instead of the 'sanitized version', Sangakkara claimed that he had seen educated commit 'worse acts' despite being well-informed and said that education sans values was not of any help. The murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, US had set off a chain of protests around the world against racial discrimination, with cricketers also coming to the front to protest against the discrimination based on colour. 

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'Teach real history instead...'     

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Sangakkara said that education without values and not 'rooted in that in-built moral campus' will not help fight prejudice but would help argue it better. Further, Sangakkara said that children should be taught the real history and not the sanitized one and that the spotlight must be shined on the good, bad and ugly a character. The wicketkeeper-batsman also pointed out that change was a tedious process and that it wouldn't just occur overnight. 

"Once one understand what real history is, we will find changes in attitude. If you wake people up to that reality instead of believing we are the be all and end all of civilization, I think that will be a powerful lesson to everyone.

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"We always have cricket team or sports team around the world doing charity, some of it looks very staged... If you are a responsible citizen, whether you play sport or not you have a responsibility to make another life better."

Holder stands in solidarity with Archer

West Indies skipper Jason Holder 'sympathised' with England pacer Jofra Archer after the latter was subjected to racial abuse on social media following his exclusion from the second Test at Manchester. The Barbados-born pacer was sent to five-day isolation after he breached the bio-secure rules and visited his family between the first and the second Test. Jofra Archer said that he will not allow anything to pass and has forwarded his complaints to the ECB who will be going through the correct process. However, Archer has been at the receiving end of criticism from former cricketers and fans for his negligence amid a severe situation. 

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Recalling Archer's 'traumatizing' experience from 2019 where he was racially abused in New Zealand, Holder opined that the resurfacing of the incident (racial discrimination) had an ill-effect on Jofra Archer. Holder appealed for people to unite and stand with Jofra Archer and called for the urgent need to end racism and abuse in cricket. Further, Holder revealed that the West Indies would back Archer and said they would help him break free of discrimination.

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