Southern Gauteng Hockey Association president and Gauteng Gryphons franchise owner, Allistar Fredericks has spoken out against racism and launched a campaign with a hotline for members of the hockey community who have felt oppressed by racism.
In a letter addressed to hockey clubs, schools, parents and supporters, Fredericks said he needed to write the letter after recent events and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It is with a heavy heart that I watched on as the world resurfaced its latent racism and then simultaneously, I got encouraged as the masses stood together against the scourge,” Fredericks said.
“We all carry some sort of baggage, butI suspect that all, [or] at least most of us, will agree that it is time to move forward and heal. Having said that, healing is something that cannot happen if we do not stand up when we see someone or something that is opening that wound whilst we are treating it.”
He said the mantra ‘silence is compliance’ rang true and if we did not stand against social ills then we condoned them.”There is no grey area on this matter. You [are] either healing or you are hurting.
“So the hockey association is launching a No Room for Racism campaign, which Fredericks said replicated ongoing campaigns in the United Kingdom and Europe in soccer.
“We believe the time has come for all of us, black, white, coloured, Indian, Asian, or any other race or [creed] you may identify with or be labelled as to stand together and fight those who want to pull us apart. We want to stamp out all forms of racism, both overt and covert.”
He said it was easy for us to overtly protest the use of the K-word, but subtle racism such as a remark about ‘you people’ was as painful and powerful an insult.”There will, and always should be chirps. It’s part of the psychological warfare we all play out on our different fields and turfs daily. The line between banter, chirps and racism is, however, clear. We will from this moment forward be actively calling it out and will impose sanctions on perpetrators.”
He said the campaign would include the dissemination of posters, flyers, social media posts and armbands for starters.”We will ask you to put these up at your clubhouses and encourage your players to [wear] the armbands, retweet our posts and be the conscience of this movement.”
A WhatsApp hotline will also be set up for people to report ‘racially loaded incidents across the province’.”I have no doubt that this will alienate a few people and maybe that is a good place to start and ask yourself why it is so uncomfortable for many. I would argue that it is that we haven’t healed yet. We need to fight this common enemy against progress and harmony.”
