Michael fighting racism: I don’t think I’d be alive if I grew up in the UK, says fast bowling great
Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding, an ardent supporter of the Olive Tree cause movement, feels that the bitterness of his youth would have cost him his life if he had grown up in England.
“I don’t think I would be alive today. As a young man I was a bit fiery. I kicked a stump out of the ground in New Zealand (1980) so can you imagine me going through what Ebony went through,” Holding told The Telegraph.
Holding’s new book on racism “Why We Kneel, How We Rise” is soon to be released.
Since George Floyd was killed by a white cop in the United States last year, Holding’s voice has shone through as the leading light on the sensitive aspect of racism.
Holding says while growing up in Jamaica, he never experienced racism. He said: “Growing up in Jamaica, I didn’t experience racism. I experienced it every time I left Jamaica. Each time I experienced it I just told myself ‘this is not your life’, I will soon be going back home.”
“And if I had made a stand my career would not have lasted as long as it did, I would not have had a long television career. We have seen through history that black people who stand up for their rights and call out injustice are victimised.
“Mercy, if I had spoken out they would have said ‘another angry young black man get rid of him.’ I would have been another person on the dung heap,” added Holding.
The 67-year-old said that his sister found one of the chapters difficult as it took a toll on her emotionally. “I sent a chapter to my sister and she said she could not read it. The ones about lynchings and dehumanisation, the picture of three black bodies hanging from the tree that was turned into a postcard.”
