'How can medal snub of Black gymnast happen in this day and age?'
You end up watching the footage several times over to check your eyes are not deceiving you.
You then check out the story behind it, to find out what happened and who said what when - just to ensure you don’t jump to conclusions.
But yes, it really is as horrendous as it looks.
A video of a gymnastics event in Ireland, in March 2022 has just gone viral, showing a judge handing out participation medals to a number of young gymnasts at a ceremony, but ignoring the only Black girl in the line-up.
Worse still, nobody appears to intervene to point out the omission. Not the photographer snapping away, the coaches looking on or the other officials in attendance.
Ex-England stars pull out of Rafiq racism inquiry and slam "failed" ECB process
Credit to the girl in question, she must have been crushed on the inside. Having suffered similarly as a child, I’ve had that kind of snub many times.
As a parent of four children, two of whom have already endured that kind of indignity, I’m not surprised the girl’s parents are incandescent.
In a world where so many choose not to see the racial injustices yet another generation of young Black and Brown children are dealing with, the video in which it is laid bare is very necessary.
Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles sent a message to the girl and posted online that seeing the video “broke my heart”, adding “there is no room for racism in any sport”.
The handling of the incident by Gymnastics Ireland has drawn criticism, with claims of indifference. A resolution was reached in August. Their terse statement – with nothing by way of an apology to the gymnast or her family – was put out at 3.48pm last Friday, September 22.
At 11.01am on Monday, after a firestorm of international outrage, someone, somewhere finally pulled their head out of the sand with a statement showing some humanity.
“On behalf of the Board and staff of Gymnastics Ireland we would like to unreservedly apologise to the gymnast and her family for the upset that has been caused by the incident at the GymStart event in March 2022,” it read.
“We are also sorry that what has happened since that date has caused further upset.
“We know now we need to do more. We are committed to ensuring nothing like this will happen again.”
Yes, the official in question is understood to have claimed an honest mistake and denied any racist behaviour and, yes, the girl did eventually receive a medal. But it should never have got this far.
Reporter and her aristocrat family to apologise for their slave trade shame
Whatever mistakes past generations have made over the years, our kids shouldn’t be dealing with this in 2023.
Nor should it be the case that the family has to remain anonymous because of fears they could receive racist abuse.
We delude ourselves that we have made progress in our society. But the tears of this girl and her family remind us we have a long way to go.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
