Over a year has passed since Michael Holding stopped the cricketing world in its tracks, speaking poignantly on Sky Sports alongside Ebony Rainford-Brent about his experience of racism. It might easily have been a memorable one-off. But Holding is on a roll.
He has recently written a book, Why We Kneel, How We Rise, that is part history lesson, part plea for equality, part rage against a system which, he argues, has spent centuries dehumanising the black race.
There are big names in his crosshairs. ‘Boris Johnson came out with a statement saying “you can’t go back and edit history”,’ he tells Sportsmail. ‘History has already been edited. What we want is the true history, not just what suits one set of people.’
Michael Holding is not soft-pedalling his way into retirement and taking a stance over racism
Holding is 67 now, and might easily have soft-pedalled his way towards retirement, his reputation secure as one of cricket’s greatest fast bowlers and the commentary box’s most resonant voices. But his conscience has been pricked. Once, his attitude towards racial abuse was to turn the other cheek. Now, he says that approach was selfish.
The result is a powerful piece of work, written with the help of journalist Ed Hawkins, that ought to dispel any doubts – if any existed – about the toll racism takes on its victims. It is one of the sporting world’s most eloquent expressions of a Black Lives Matter movement that entered a new dimension last year following the murder of George Floyd by a policeman in Minneapolis.
Holding uses his celebrity wisely, securing interviews with other black A-list athletes. Hope Powell, England’s first black football manager, talks of dog excrement being shoved through her letterbox. Makhaya Ntini tells of his despair about being written off as a ‘quota’ cricketer, despite 662 wickets for South Africa. Thierry Henry describes ordering an Uber in New York, then watching the car speed past as the driver clocks his ethnicity.
Last year, the cricket legend made a poignant speech in the wake of George Floyd's murder
The 67-year-old has spoken to the likes of Naomi Osaka (L) and Thierry Henry (R) for his book
Holding also spoke to aboriginal Aussie rules star Adam Goodes about the tolls of racism
Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson, tennis player Naomi Osaka and the aboriginal Aussie Rules footballer Adam Goodes all join in. It is not a pleasant read. Nor is it intended to be.
‘I involved these big names to show people how, irrespective of whether you are famous, once you have black skin you are victimised, you are discriminated against,’ says Holding.
‘As Thierry Henry says, once he got a hat-trick, it was: “Hi Mr Henry, what can I do for you?” That is what black people need to do to become ‘normal’ – they need to become a big star. But once he went somewhere they did not know him, he went back to being an ordinary black man.’
Despite this, the book has at its heart a positive message: educate yourself about the past, says Holding, and you will be less likely to harbour ignorant views in the present. He is hopeful, but with caveats.
‘I think America has made greater strides in the last year than the UK,’ he says. ‘I don’t see any real progress in the UK. I hear a lot of talk. In America, I see huge corporations putting up huge moneys for programmes that will try to level the playing field. I don’t see that in England.
The commentator believes that the United States is making great strides in combatting racism
However, he does not believe that the UK is close to levelling the playing field for everyone
‘A department store [Sainsbury’s] put out a Christmas ad with a black couple,
