By Luke Hawkins
DANNY Gabbidon believes “Elements of BLM have been positive” but calls on people in high positions to “make the right decisions going forward.”
The former Wales international gave his views on the affect of BLM and some of the questions it raises for some people.
“Elements of it have been very positive, there’s also been elements of it where certain people don’t want to take the knee,”
Gabbidon has also called for action from figures of authority suggesting that BLM is the start of things and he raised its imperfections.
He also suggested that for any demonstration to have lasting effects, people in positions of power need to put things in place to truly have an impact on racism.
“the people in the high authority positions, they’re the ones who need to make the right decisions,”
He also suggested that social media is currently a source for a lot of the problems black people face.
He called for there to be “more control” over the abuse directed at some players online.
The comments come after a torrid couple of months that have seen abuse directed at multiple high profile football players.
Gabbidon described social media as a “useful tool” but also as “quite poisonous”.
Manchester United attackers Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were subject to such abuse last month.
Meanwhile, West Brom midfielder Romanie Sawyers received racist messages after West Brom lost to Man City 5-0 in January.
In the Sawyers case, the suspect was arrested for his actions.
The government have also promised to implement new laws against online abuse later this year.
“people are saying ‘Is it having the desired affect? I’m not sure I want to take the knee’.”
“I think if they have to change the gesture it really doesn’t matter.”
“If they change taking the knee to standing tall or what we saw happen at Millwall a few months back where all the players got together,”
“That wouldn’t be a sign of giving into racists by going away from the taking of the knee.”
“To get rid of racism is going to be difficult because we all have different views”
“It’s not about saying black people are better than anyone else, it’s just about being accepted and treated in the same way.”
“You can only hope things like this and what happens after will help to change people’s views”
“there is much more that needs to be done, on a daily basis, players are getting racially abused, after games and before games,”
Gabbidon also commented on the sort of people who can make change going forward.
“social media as amazing a tool it is, it is quite poisonous as well,”
“hopefully, the likes of Facebook and Instagram, the likes of these companies can do a bit more to control it.”
“Things like the BLM movement are things that need to happen to promote change.”
“You need people above that in senior positions who make big decisions to buy into it,”
“we’ve seen what sky have done in the last few months, where they’ve really bought into it,”
“but it’s not about that, the people in the high authority positions, they’re the ones who need to make the right decisions,”
“that’s my worry really, all these different movements and campaigns, how much does it mean? Will it run its course?”
Hawkinsport 