Comments Against Dan Christian Would Be Investigated Upon:
Cricket Australia spoke against “blatantly racist” remarks aimed at cricketer Dan Christian, who appeared in Cricket Connecting Country ‘s premiere and spoke of casual racism in the Australian cricket scene.
Christian is one of only six Australian Indigenous cricketers who have played international cricket for the country. A leader announced that CA had started an investigation to find the two racist troll accounts.
The Cricket Connecting Country, commissioned by CA, is an online panel series to promote Indigenous Cultures and Multiculturalism in Australia. The first episode aired on Wednesday (September 9) was hosted by Mel Jones and the guests included Dan Christian and Rachael Haynes.
“We are extremely saddened to see overtly racist and uneducated remarks in the wake of last night’s Cricket Connecting Country premiere,” Cricket Australia wrote on Twitter, exposing the slur but shielding the identity of the trolls who seemed to challenge Christian Aboriginality on the basis of their appearance and colour.
“While we have chosen not to publicly name the writer of these comments, we want to strongly reiterate that any sort of prejudice or discrimination has no place in cricket, sport or the broader society. Comments like this show just how far we still have to go,” the board said.
“I think it is an issue in Australian cricket, I don’t think it’s as ‘in your face’ as you might see around the world or even elsewhere in Australian culture,” Christian had on the show. “I think it’s certainly there, it’s more of a casual racism, it’s just a bit of a throwaway line here and there, made to be jokes, and a lot of it for me personally was about the colour of my skin and the fact that I don’t look Aboriginal or whatever it means. That’s the most obvious thing for me.
“It’s just something that comes with a lack of understanding and ignorance. I don’t think a lot of people say it with any sort of intent, it’s just that they don’t get it and they don’t know it.” Christian told the show about how the Black Lives Movement made it possible for his former teammates to reach out to him and better understand him and his culture.
“However, over the last few months, I’ve got a lot of messages from people I’ve played with and against that said, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve ever said something to you that you’ve been hurt, please support me. I’d love to know more about your personal life, your family story, the stuff I can do in the community to try and support out.’ “And so from that point of view, I think it was a great thing that happened to be able to have that conversation and to make people want to make a change.”
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