Soon after Darren Sammy was trending for his complaints about racism in Sun Risers Hyderabad camp, Ishant Sharma’s old post came up on social media in which he had referred to the West Indian as Kalu.
Sammy had talked about how he and Thisara Perera were called Kalu in the SRH camp in 2013-14. In an Instagram video, he had asked those players who called him so to reach out to him before he takes names.
READ: https://penbugs.com/you-guys-know-who-you-are-darren-sammy-to-srh-teammates-on-racial-abuse/
Twitteratti picked up an old post of Ishant Sharma on Instagram, where he refers to Sammy as ‘Kalu’ in the caption. Ishant, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Sammy and Dale Steyn were present in the photograph.
Meanwhile, the netizens also brought out an old tweet of Sammy where he wished VVS Laxman on his birthday. In that tweet, he had mentioned ‘dark Kalu’. Though Sammy had said earlier that he did not know the meaning of the term, the tweet makes one wonder whether Laxman used to call him by that name.
Explicit racism is not a popular thing in India. However, a lot of references to colour, ethnic background, caste, height, or body stature is normalised as a friendly banter that those who come from outside might not understand the actual meaning.
Though many argue that it could be a friendly banter, at this point of time in the current global scenario, the players are rightly expected to know the implications of using racial slur irrespective of the context of the usage. As professionals, they have to be sensitive about it, especially with the kind of history that is associated with the terminology,
