Former South African captain Faf du Plessis has come out in support of Black Lives Matter movement with a powerful and moving statement. The South African cricketer took to Instagram and posted a picture of him and fast bowler Lungi Ngidi. Du Plessis wrote, “in the last couple of months I have realised that we must choose our battles. We are surrounded by many injustices in our country that require urgent attention and action to fix them. If we wait only for the ones that attack us personally, we will always live for “my way vs your way” and that way leads us nowhere.” Dwaine Pretorius Backs Lungi Ngidi, Declares Support for BLM Movement in South Africa (See Post).

The South African batsman added, “so I’ve remained silent, with the intent to listen, but not respond. Slowing down my point of view, but quicker to hear the pain of someone else. I knew that words would be lacking and that my understanding is not close to where it needs to be.”

Faf also said he will take a knee in support of BLM campaign. “I surrender my opinions and take the knee as an intercessor. I acknowledge that South Africa is still hugely divided by racism and it is my personal responsibility to do my best to emphasise, hear the stories, learn and then be part of the solution with my thoughts, words and actions,” he said.

The cricketer also added that he “got it wrong before.” He added, “good intentions were failed by a lack of perspective when I said on a platform that - I don’t see colour. In my ignorance I silenced the struggles of others by placing my own view on it. Lungi Ngidi Finds Support From 31 Former and Current South African Players on ‘Black Lives Matter’ Stance.

Here's Faf du Plessis' Statement

 

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In the last couple of months I have realized that we must choose our battles. We are surrounded by many injustices in our country that require urgent attention and action to fix them. If we wait only for the ones that attack us personally, we will always live for “my way vs your way” and that way leads us nowhere. So I’ve remained silent, with the intent to listen, but not respond. Slowing down my point of view, but quicker to hear the pain of someone else. I knew that words would be lacking and that my understanding is not close to where it needs to be. I surrender my opinions and take the knee as an intercessor. I acknowledge that South Africa is still hugely divided by racism and it is my personal responsibility to do my best to emphasize, hear the stories, learn and then be part of the solution with my thoughts, words and actions I have gotten it wrong before. Good intentions were failed by a lack of perspective when I said on a platform that - I don’t see colour. In my ignorance I silenced the struggles of others by placing my own view on it. A race problem is a human race problem, if one part of the body hurts ,we all stop, we empathize, we get perspective, we learn and then we tend to the hurting part of the body. So I am saying that all lives don’t matter UNTIL black lives matter. I’m speaking up now, because if I wait to be perfect, I never will. I want to leave a legacy of empathy. The work needs to continue for the change to come and whether we agree or disagree, conversation is the vehicle for change.

A post shared by Faf du plessis (@fafdup) on

“A race problem is a human race problem, if one part of the body hurts ,we all stop, we empathise, we get perspective, we learn and then we tend to the hurting part of the body.”

He ended his statement with: “so I am saying that all lives don’t matter UNTIL black lives matter. I’m speaking up now, because if I wait to be perfect, I never will. I want to leave a legacy of empathy. The work needs to continue for the change to come and whether we agree or disagree, conversation is the vehicle for change.”

No just Faf other South African cricketers like Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius have come forward in support of the Black Live Matter campaign.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2020 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).