Azeem Rafiq has alleged he was victim of racism during his time with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. On Friday, after an independent report upheld “several" of Rafiq’s allegations, the club issued a statement acknowledging that he was “the victim of inappropriate behaviour" and apologised for it.
However, Rafiq is unhappy with the report claiming in an interview to Sky Sports News that it “tones racism down" to “inappropriate behaviour" and that he’s “seriously hurt".
“I don’t really know what to say anymore. To try and tone racism down to ‘inappropriate behaviour’, I find it really difficult to understand what they’re actually thinking they’re doing," Rafiq said.
“It hurts, it seriously hurts. I think at the end of it, there’s some sort of apology, but I think it gets spoiled by the words that are used to try and minimise what actually my allegations were," he added.
Rafiq may have felt victimised during his two spells with Yorkshire but his old social media post - one he shared twice inside four months - puts him in the same bracket as those whose behaviour, he alleges, left him feeling suicidal.
Writing in the comments section of the aforementioned post, Rafiq says he “couldn’t stop laughing" after spotting the post on Facebook before proceeding to sharing it himself.
The post in question is basically is a meme that’s a play on the popular superstitious saying in the Indian subcontinent “Buri Nazar Waale Tera Muh Kala“.
In English, it translates to the curse of Evil Eye.
Sounds innocent? Only, it isn’t.
Buri Nazar Waale Tera Muh Kala roughly means the person casting an evil eye shall have his face blackened (black here is a symbol of ill luck on the person with malicious intent).
Which now brings us back to what Rafiq has shared. The post literally translates to “If Evil Eye Would Result in a Blackface, 90% of Our Relatives Would’ve Been African."
No need to explain the meaning behind - it’s clearly a reference to the dark skin of people residing in the African continent.
Rafiq accompanied the picture posted on February 23, 2017 with a caption that began with half-a-dozen smileys followed by “made my night."
View this post on Instagram
In the comment section, he says to have been laughing since spotting the image on someone’s profile on Facebook.
Nearly three months later, he posted the same image with the caption, “great timing for this to come back out" “100%not90%..actually most of them kalai hi hain (actually most of them are indeed black).
View this post on Instagram
Meanwhile, Rafiq says he has spoken to the England and Wales Cricket Board, and Professional Cricketers’ Association but claims that the support one may receive is dependent on “colour of skin".
“I don’t know why I’m sat here spending my days trying to put pressure, when the least person it’s benefitting is myself. I’m sick and tired. Clearly the game has serious issues it needs to tackle. Mental health, the support you receive is clearly dependent on the colour of your skin," he said.
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