The Racist Whistle Blowers

The Racist Whistle Blowers

Make no mistake about it. Cricket is a great game and racism has no place in it. Nor does racism have a place in any aspect of modern day life. Of course you agree with this you little twerp. Who in their right minds would not agree with something as banal as that? To say that racism is a strict "no-no" is an universal truism. A tautology. A given. A "why do we even need to spell it out" kinda thing.

Here's why.

Trouble is there is as yet no consensus on precisely what constitutes racism. Take away the most covert acts of discrimination or abuse with racial undertones and you are left with a wide range of incidents which could or could not be interpreted as racism. Fact of the matter is that there are huge cultural differences in the manner in which racism is understood. And the incident in the Sydney test was a disaster waiting to happen simply because we refuse to address this issue and prefer to be coy and not talk about it at all rather than reach a better understanding of these cultural differences. To me it almost seems as if being politically correct and non-controversial is more important than reaching the right conclusion.

The Canadians of course are the most ridiculously politically correct of them all. We Indians will rib each other and giggle and nudge elbows at the silliest of "sardar" jokes. And everyone will guffaw at the caricature of the old Parsi who (for heavens sake!) features regularly on TV commercials!! Including the Parsis themselves! We Indians have a sense of humour above everything else. And the ability to laugh at ourselves is the biggest gift we have since it enables us to recognise our differences and get to like them rather than pretending that we are all the same. But heavens forbid if someone in Canada cracks a Polish joke. But then Canadians are very nice people and it’s a reputation they intend to keep. And I have to say I have never faced any kind of racial discrimination in Canada.

But what that does not help is the issues that our cricket team is facing in Australia. Yes, so our off spinner Harbhajan ("Bhajji") Singh called the only black Aussie player on the field a "monkey". All right. Perhaps personally offensive but does it have racial connotations?


To all except those who have scrambled eggs for brains, calling someone a monkey is not racial abuse. It may be abuse (though everyone knows that it is common place for players - especially the Aussies - to use even four letter words in the heat of the moment) but what is it about our simian ancestors that could be associated with racial abuse? If you think about it, is it not the whistle blowers themselves who are in their own minds associating a black player with a monkey? Why can't someone who is white or brown (or black or blue) be synonymous with a monkey? And why would the colour of Andrew Symond's skin be the only obvious association with a monkey rather than any other characteristic? And if Bhajji had used any other epitaph - for example "elephant" - would that not have been plain vanilla abusive rather than racial abuse? So if "monkey" is racial and "elephant' is not then the racism is in the minds of the accusers since it is they who at some sub-conscious level associate monkeys with black people.

Which brings us to MY BIG POINT about racism. It’s just not what you say or how you say it that matters. It’s what you actually think which is important. And if we do not address this, then racism is going to be a big problem because the subtle brand of racism will continue unabated. And it’s you & I who will be responsible since we refuse to address it. Pretending that it does not exist simply because it is not expressed is the problem. Which is why the controversy in Sydney was something which was inevitable. Pity it soiled the fair name of the great game of cricket.