rootsandculture

I n my most recent piece on this hateful game, [i] surrounding cricket, I addressed a speech made by the Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and West Indies Cricket Board, Director, Sir Hilary Beckles. In that speech he compared Former Captain Chris Gayle to convicted Jamaican gangster Chris ‘Dudus’ Coke. He made a number of unsupported conclusions and maligned a number of current players. I hoped my response then would have put the issue to rest for us both. This was a serious miscalculation, if not an overgrown ego, on my part. Nevertheless, Beckles did rest for a while. But he re-entered with his most damning conclusion ever. He proclaimed in an article entitled, Cricket, Cash and Country [ii] that Darren Sammy “..is the Worrell-like figure, leading a youthful West Indies team through the political debris that blinds us all.” This is as bad as the Dudus comparison. In a racist society people of African descent have had to perform over and above the call...