Gestures against racism have become more prevalent throughout the world in an attempt to combat the issue
Lewis Hamilton recently raised a clenched fist on the podium as a gesture against racism after claiming his first Grand Prix win of the season
The Formula One’s only Black driver also took a knee on the starting grid with some of the other drivers while wearing a T-shirt with “Black Lives Matter” on the front last Sunday.
“We stand together and fight,” he said after posting on Instagram a picture of himself making the gesture on the Spielberg podium after collecting the 85th winner’s trophy of his F1 career.
“The team today took the knee which was just amazing to see that together we can learn, be open-minded and conscious of what’s going on in the world.”
View this post on InstagramWe stand together and fight the team today took the knee which was just amazing to see that together we can learn, be open minded and conscious of what’s going on in the world. Today we won but we have a long way to go. Thank you so much to everyone in my team, here at the track and back at the factory. I hope you are proud of what we are standing for and achieving together. A huge thanks to all of you #TeamLH, I appreciate all of your support and your positive messages, you’ve really kept me going
#StillWeRise
Where is all began…
The clenched fist gesture echoed that of sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. While on the podium, Smith and Carlos, who had won gold and bronze medals respectively in the 200-meter running event, turned to face the US flag and then kept their hands raised until the anthem had finished.
Both men were kicked off the US team and sent home after their famous black-gloved protest.
Colin Kaepernick’s was the one to set off a wave of controversy following his infamous knee gesture before one of San Francisco 49ers games during the 2016 season. While others stood during the National Anthem, Kaepernick chose to kneel as a protest against the knee that pressures, chokes and silences.
Credit: Getty
Powerful Gestures Against Racism
Georginio Wijnaldum had given a powerful anti-racism gesture last year when he ran to the cameras on the touchline, held out his arm next to his teammate Frenkie de Jong’s, and pointed to the colours of their skin.
The Liverpool FC midfielder not only captained his home country’s team in the absence of Virgil van Dijk, but went on to score his first international hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Estonia.
Following the death of George Floyd in the United States, a series of protests had erupted around the world. This set of a cascade of events whereby many governing bodies including that of the English Premier League took to the stage to support such a movement – a perfect example of how powerful the message is.
The Premier League has shown solidarity by replacing the name of each player with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan for the first 12 matches of the restarted season, and a BLM badge featured on all shirts for the rest of the season. Racism was the talking point in recent years within the Premier League as online abuse had stirred news headlines.
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