Darren Sammy was with the SRH side between 2013 and 2015. (File Photo/BCCI)
Darren Sammy has expressed fury at having learnt the meaning of the word ‘kalu’, a jibe directed at him during his days in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). He said he thought the word meant “strong stallion” but that he had a revelation on Saturday.
Sammy wrote on his Instagram story on Saturday: “Oh so that’s what that meant when they called me and Thisara Perera Kalu in India when we played for Sunrisers. I just thought they were calling me strong black man… I’m more piss now.”
He wrote in the next story: “I just learnt what that kalu meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They called me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong Stallion. My previous post tells me something different and I am angry.”
A screenshot of Darren Sammy’s Instagram story
One of Sammy’s stories on Saturday was on the recent episode of ‘Patriot Act’, an episode which talked about casual racism in Indian households. The episode mentioned that derogatorily calling dark members of the family ‘kalu’ is in practice in many families.
Sammy has been a vocal supporter of the protests in the USA over this past week, also asking the cricketing fraternity to speak out against racism. “Right now if the cricket world not standing against the injustice against people of color after seeing that last video of that foot down the next of my brother you are also part of the problem,” Sammy tweeted earlier.
The all-rounder pointed out that racism is not just limited to America but blacks all across the world have to deal with the social evil on a daily basis.
“@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind? This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u,” Sammy tweeted.
The all-rounder’s comments came in the wake of global protests over the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, an African-American who was left gasping for breath after a white police officer pressed his knee on the handcuffed man’s neck in USA last week.