Almost a year to the day that West Indies became one of the first two international cricket sides to take a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, their former captain Jason Holder has urged athletes to do more for anti-racism. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo ahead of West Indies' series against South Africa, Holder said he wants the taking a knee to be given meaning again through greater awareness and action.
"I had a few discussions about it and I feel as though some people feel it's now a watered-down action taken before the games. I would like to see some new initiative to spark the movement again," Holder said. "I don't want people to just think we're taking the knee because Black Lives Matter, that's the tradition and that's the norm. It has to have some substance, it has to have some meaning behind it."
Although West Indies are likely to take a knee at the start of each of the two Tests against South Africa, as they have done in all of the series they have played since the England tour last year, Holder indicated they may add to the activism by other means. "Maybe, that's something we can do as a group. Maybe, a video collage and a video message, just to reiterate what the movement stands for and what it's all about," he said.
Holder did not indicate if South Africa - who are yet to take a knee as a national side but have made their own gestures in support of the message - would be included in this group but ESPNcricinfo understands West Indies will approach their visitors to discuss the best way forward. While Cricket South Africa's interim board, whose tenure ends on Saturday, have expressed their disappointment in the team not taking a knee given South Africa's Apartheid history, the team has not explained their reasons behind their decision to forego the gesture. Instead,, they wore black armbands on their return to play last November and had banners against racism and gender-based violence and then raised their fists in a black-power salute before the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka. It is not yet known whether South Africa will have any anti-racism stance in this series.
The subject has become topical in the cricketing world again after recent events in England, where Ollie Robinson has been suspended for historic tweets and other players are under investigation, and Holder recognised that racism remains a problem that needs to be addressed through more than just gestures.
"Racism is a big thing in the world and in society at this point in time," he said. "I would like to see some more emphasis, some more thought process going into actually resparking or re-engaging the movement so it can actually hold some substance. Now, we are getting to a point where people are just saying we are taking the knee, but what do we actually take the knee for? Does it have that substance that it had before? To me, racism is something we need to speak out against. More awareness has to be going on around it. And the more we can do that, which could be in a different way rather than taking the knee, the better off we will be around this whole movement."
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent
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