Jofra Archer Hits Back At Michael Holding Over His Comments: West Indies legend Michael Holding has been very vocal about the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. He has even applauded the gesture of England, West Indies, and Ireland teams to register their respect for the ongoing movement by taking a knee ahead of their Test and ODI matches. However, he recently slammed Pakistan, Australia, and England for not doing the same.
Describing their decision to not do so as ‘lame’, Michael Holding had suggested individual players could unilaterally make the gesture if they wanted to ‘show the respect’ towards the movement.
However, England’s star pacer has insisted that no one has forgotten about the movement and even claimed that Holding knows nothing that’s happening inside the teams.
Jofra Archer, who has often found himself at the receiving end of criticism and racial abuse, recently, claimed that the progress is being made in the background. He said:
“I’m pretty sure Michael Holding doesn’t know anything that is going on behind the scenes. I don’t think he has spoken to [ECB chief executive] Tom Harrison,”
He added:
“I’ve spoken to Tom and we have stuff running in the background. We’ve not forgotten. No-one here has forgotten about Black Lives Matter. “I think that is a bit harsh for him to say that. I think it is a bit harsh for Mikey to not do some research before criticising,”
Later, Holding responded to Jofra Archer’s comments and opined that there should be no conflict between taking action in the background and continuing to make a gesture in public. He said:
“Taking a knee does not prevent other action from taking place. Those who take a knee are not substituting the gesture for other positive action. Nobody should have a problem with it. It is worldwide recognition of calling attention to racial prejudice and injustice,”
