Michael Holding - Why We Kneel How We Rise

Why We Kneel, How We Rise

Michael Holding

With Contributions from: Usain Bolt, Adam Goodes, Jeff Harriott, Thierry Henry, Michael Johnson, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Makhaya Ntini, Naomi Osaka, Hope Powell

First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2021

Copyright Michael Holding, 2021

The right of Michael Holding to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

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The author and publishers have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright-holders for permission, and apologise for any omissions or errors in the form of credits given. Corrections may be made to future printings.

Excerpts from Still I Rise from And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou reprinted by permission of Little, Brown Book Group.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-3985-0323-6

Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-3985-0324-3

eBook ISBN: 978-1-3985-0325-0

To Mom who lived her life quietly hoping for race equality

After my last book was published in 2010, entitled No Holding Back, I thought my writing days had ended. But I was inspired to put pen to paper once again by a sequence of events coming together at, for the want of a better term, the right time. Although these events should never be termed right in any fashion as they involved the loss of human life, the reaction to George Floyds murder, and the much later recognition of the loss of Breonna Taylors life, meant all over the world there was debate and discussion about ending the mistreatment of people of colour. Hopefully their deaths and hundreds of others will not be in vain.

The graphic display of Georges life, that of a Black man in America, slowly ebbing away under the pressure of a white police officers knee on his neck led to millions of people taking to the streets in protest, to say this cannot continue. This book is my way of saying this cannot continue.

If you look up racism in the Oxford English Dictionary, you will find these words:

The belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.

I thought long and hard about the best way to communicate how people of colour have been dehumanised for centuries. I want to educate about why racism exists, how it works and what it is like to be treated differently just because of the colour of your skin. What does it feel like when you walk into the room as the only Black guy? What does it feel like to be eyed with suspicion? To be followed when you go into a shop? To know that your life is valued less?

I want to show how the dehumanisation of a race of people began and was then encouraged in order to satisfy the narrative of inferiority and superiority. I wanted to educate people about the true history of mankind, which should dispel the myth of one or another race being inferior or superior.

And I am very fortunate that, as a former international sportsman I played 162 times for the West Indies cricket team between 1975 and 1987 and, dare I say, respected television commentator, I have enough contacts in the world of sports to bring together a collection of Black icons to help tell that story. How better to get people to sit up and take notice than if some of the most iconic athletes in the world tell their story, about how racism has affected them?

So you will hear from my compatriot Usain Bolt, the fastest man who has ever lived, about the sheltered upbringing we both had in Jamaica; and how the fierce tennis champion Naomi Osaka is using her status as the most sought-after athlete in the world to inspire change.

The great American Olympic athlete Michael Johnson talks to me about the fear that underpins the entire system of racial inequality, and Ibtihaj Muhammad, the ground-breaking Olympian, reveals what its like to be Black, Muslim and a woman in the present-day Land of the Free.

Thierry Henry, one of the greatest footballers of all time, opens up about how only worldwide fame can help to protect you from racism. The story of how racism ended the career of Adam Goodes, legendary Aussie Rules star, may well move you to tears. Trailblazers are here too Makhaya Ntini, the first Black African to play cricket for South Africa, and Hope Powell, Englands first Black soccer coach.

Through the last days of summer 2020 and into the winter, I spoke with each of them. All of the interviews were conducted over Zoom as the Covid pandemic raged and rules on social distancing and international travel made meeting up in person impossible. I am hugely grateful for their time, generosity and support. And, I should add, none of them was hand-picked because they had a good, emotive story to tell that fitted the narrative. They had a story to tell because of who they are perceived to be, because just like any person of colour they have suffered from centuries-old stigma.

My experience of racism will be intertwined with theirs and I hope this combination will amplify the messages and engage as many people as possible. I largely focus on race in America and Britain. Why? Because I have lived in both countries and, in my opinion, the two nations role in the past, present and future are most relevant to the quest for equality.

I would like to thank my immediate boss at Sky, Bryan Henderson, the executive producer of Sky Sports Cricket, whose idea it was to allow Ebony Rainford-Brent and myself to express our feelings on the BLM movement and racism in general. Thanks also to my overall employer Sky UK Ltd for the support and encouragement throughout the entire process.

I have mentioned in the pages of the book some folks who encouraged me to go further than just what I said on that July morning, but I would like to additionally give a huge shoutout and thanks to my ghostwriter Ed Hawkins, who also did my last cricket book. He was invaluable and did a brilliant job in converting my ramblings and WhatsApp-messaged stories into something readable and, ultimately, the production of this book. Not to mention the research he did to make sure the stories and illustrations we used were factual and accurate. Kudos to Joe Citrone for efficient transcription work.

A book can always be written but without a publisher it goes nowhere and so I would like to thank my literary agents, Charlie Campbell and Charlotte Atyeo, who handled all the groundwork to get the right publisher, Simon & Schuster, who I must also thank for having the confidence in the writer and the subject to commit themselves to publishing the work. Thanks to Ian Marshall and Frances Jessop for the advice and editing.

Lastly, but by no means least, I would like to thank the personalities who agreed to be interviewed and give us a bit of a look into their lives and share their opinions on matters discussed. I will be eternally grateful to them for taking time out of their busy schedules and being so committed to the cause, as their presence in these pages has enhanced the story and the teaching were trying to do.