Du Plessis: All lives DON’T matter until black live matters

Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)

The racial inequality fight is far from in South Africa as we have seen Cricketer Lungi Ngidi who have come out calling for a support and rally behind “Black Lives Matter Movement”.

Ngidi received a backlash from former Cricketers who said instead of Black Lives Matter Ngidi should rather put his energy on advocating for support against farmers murders in South Africa.

Ngidi’s calls also found Makhaya Ntini speaking out about his experiences in the Proteas during his time of play where he found himself being isolated on several occasions, feeling lonely and alienating himself because he felt sidelined because of his skin colour.

Ntini’s comments saw former Proteas captain Francois “Faf” du Plessis also speaking out against racism saying that he also had to correct himself on numerous occasions on saying things which he thought were right but only to find out they are wrong.

“I’ve gotten it wrong before. Good intensions were failed by a lack of perspective when I said on a platform that I don’t see colour. In my ignorance I silenced the struggles of other by placing my own view on it.”

“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 emphasise‚ hear the stories‚ learn and then be part of the solution with my thoughts‚ words and actions” said du Plessis.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) also said a week ago that they also support Black Lives Matter.

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In the last couple of months I have realized that we must choose our battles. We are surrounded by many injustices in our country that require urgent attention and action to fix them. If we wait only for the ones that attack us personally, we will always live for “my way vs your way” and that way leads us nowhere. So I’ve remained silent, with the intent to listen, but not respond. 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 emphasize, hear the stories, learn and then be part of the solution with my thoughts, words and actions 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 colour. In my ignorance I silenced the struggles of others by placing my own view on it. A race problem is a human race problem, if one part of the body hurts ,we all stop, we empathize, we get perspective, we learn and then we tend to the hurting part of the body. 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. The work needs to continue for the change to come and whether we agree or disagree, conversation is the vehicle for change.

A post shared by Faf du plessis (@fafdup) on Jul 16, 2020 at 11:20pm PDT