Veteran fast bowler Michael Holding has recently opened up about racism and believes he wouldn’t have been alive now if he grew up in England. However, he hs earlier also voiced against racism in sport and society as well.

“I don’t think I would be alive today. As a young man I was a bit fiery. I kicked a stump out of the ground in New Zealand (1980) so can you imagine me going through what Ebony went through? No, I would not have made it,” Holding told ‘The Telegraph’ while referring to what former England player Ebony Rainford-Brent faced while growing up in the UK.

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Ever since a white cop killed George Floyd in the United States last year, Michael Holding has shared his views on the various aspect of racism.

He continued: “Growing up in Jamaica, I didn’t experience racism. I experienced it every time I left Jamaica. Each time I experienced it I just told myself ‘this is not your life’, I will soon be going back home’. And if I had made a stand my career would not have lasted as long as it did, I would not have had a long television career. We have seen through history that black people who stand up for their rights and call out injustice are victimised. Mercy, if I had spoken out they would have said another angry young black man get rid of him.’ I would have been another person on the dung heap.”

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However, his new book on racism “Why We Kneel, How We Rise” is going to be released soon. The former legend has also shared how his sister found it difficult to read one of the chapters in the book. “I sent a chapter to my sister and she said she could not read it. The ones about lynchings and dehumanisation, the picture of three black bodies hanging from the tree that was turned into a postcard,” concluded Michael Holding.