West Indies captain Jason Holder felt Michael Holding's words on racism 'in his veins'

West Indies great Michael Holding said on Wednesday that racism will not stop until the entire human race is educated on the subject.

Published : Jul 10, 2020 10:56 IST

West Indies' captain Jason Holder celebrates the dismissal of England's Mark Wood during the second day of the first Test match between England and West Indies, at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, England.

West Indies captain Jason Holder says both his team and England putting up a united front to show support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign before the start of the first Test on Wednesday meant the “world to him” and that he felt West Indian great Michael Holding’s powerful speech on racism “in his veins.”

Members of the England and West Indies teams went down on one knee for 30 seconds in solidarity with the BLM movement before the start of play of the first Test at Southampton.

“It meant the world to me. Just the support from everyone, everyone understanding the moment, everyone understanding the occasion. And to see both teams coming together the way they did, it sent a really strong message,” Holder told 

Sky Sports  on Thursday.

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“I happened to be on social media last night, and I saw a few Aussies posting the same pic of everyone on the knee, and it just shows the cricket world is actually unified. But I think we could come a lot closer, we could do a lot more for cricket in general.”

Holder led from the front on day two of the Test, taking a career-best six for 42 to put his team in a good position.

Holding, a cricket commentator, said on Wednesday that racism will not stop until the entire human race is educated on the subject, that the achievements of black people have been deliberately omitted from the education system and that they have been dehumanised over several years.

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“I must say, I saw the interview with Mikey yesterday, and I felt in my veins, to be honest. To me it was powerful, I think he hit the nail on the head, he was spot on,” said Holder. “For me, it’s more of an education. Guys need to make themselves aware of what’s in front of us. There’s a bigger picture sometimes in sport, but in the grand scheme of things, I just think we just need to be aware, we need to educate ourselves, and we need to have a level playing field for everyone.”

Holding, who was listening to Holder’s interview, responded by saying: “I don’t think you need to thank me, Jason. I think you guys need to just take the baton and keep on running with it.”