Andrew Davis
It is sad to see that out-of-touch, virtue-signalling athletes, including our very own Black Caps, are still ‘taking the knee’ before they play a bit of sportsball.
Not only that but if an athlete refuses to take part, they are often bullied and threatened until they are coerced into making a grovelling apology.
When South African cricketer Quinton de Kock refused to kneel last month, he was branded a ‘national disgrace’ by some on social media.
Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle tweeted: “I fear we haven’t heard the last of the de Kock issue. I won’t be surprised if we don’t see him in a Protea shirt again.”
The crux of the matter here is the disingenuous, or perhaps merely ignorant, view that taking the knee is simply a symbol of fighting racism.
It isn’t.
Just as the Hindu swastika – originally a symbol for luck – is now inextricably linked to Nazis, so too is kneeling linked to Black Lives Matter.
Now, in case you’ve been living under a rock (or perhaps you’ve only been reading mainstream newspapers), you may have missed the fact that BLM is seen by many as being a toxic, divisive, anti-Western, Marxist mob with a history of violence, arson and looting.
For example, when a Black police officer justifiably shot an armed Black offender in Milwaukee in 2016, people with ‘BLM’ signs looted, vandalised and burned down stores and a petrol station.
This is what BLM does.
Of course, the Left will try to spin and minimise these acts of violence.
They will claim, ‘they’re not ‘real’ BLM supporters – they’re just rioters and looters with BLM signs’.
Like there’s a difference. According to the New York Times, Black Lives Matter “is not an organization, but a fluid movement”.
If that’s the case, then how can you say that these rioters and looters aren’t BLM?
If they’re running around with BLM signs, chanting ‘Black Lives Matter’, and they’re inspired by BLM rhetoric, then they’re BLM.
Black Lives Matter also has a history of lying about instances of alleged police brutality.
For example, they claimed that Michael Brown was unjustifiably murdered by police in Ferguson in 2015, even though forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts refute claims that Brown had his hands up and was attempting to surrender to police.
The infamous ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ myth is a demonstrable lie.
And what does anti-police rhetoric get you?
In Dallas in 2016, five US police officers were killed at a Black Lives Matter protest by a man who claimed to be inspired by BLM’s anti-police rhetoric.
It is also worth noting that, only two weeks before New Zealand police officer Matthew Hunt was killed, there were BLM protestors in Wellington walking down the main road with ‘ACAB’ signs.
ACAB stands for ‘All Cops Are Bad’ and you see these signs at all BLM protests.
Make no mistake; Black Lives Matter is an anti-police organisation. It is completely inappropriate for our national cricket team to show support for them.
BLM leaders have also been accused of antisemitism and misappropriating funds.
For all of these reasons, many people are keen to distance themselves from the group.
The act of kneeling is linked to Black Lives Matter, which is why some athletes choose not to ‘take the knee’ and why many fans boo the gesture.
It is absurd to suggest that, if you don’t support BLM, then you must be racist. Some polls show that even as many as one-in-four African Americans don’t support Black Lives Matter.
This is why teams such as the Black Caps need to stop engaging in a gesture that is linked to this mob.
Remember how the Left branded all red ‘MAGA’ hats as racist, because some neo-Nazis allegedly wore them?
The same applies here. If the Right are expected to distance themselves from MAGA hats, because some people that wear them are violent extremists, then surely the Left should distance themselves from the symbols and gestures used by the violent extremists on their side.
One of those gestures is kneeling.
