Daren Sammy opens up on racial abuse he received while playing in IPL

Thirty-six-year-old admitted he did not know at the time what was meant by team-mates’ words

Daren Sammy has been vocal since George Floyd's death in the United States last month (AFP via Getty Images)

Former West Indies cricket captain Daren Sammy took to Instagram on Tuesday to speak about the racist abuse he received while playing for Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

The five-minute video comes a week after Sammy said on Instagram that he was called a term during his time with SRH without realising it was a racial slur against black people.

“Knowledge is power,” the 36-year-old wrote alongside the video. “So recently I discovered a word that I was being called was not what [I actually thought] it meant. I need some answers.

“So before I start calling out names I need these individuals to reach out and please tell me there’s another meaning to that word, and when I was being called it, it was all in love.

“I was listening to [Indian American actor] Hasan Minhaj talking about how some of the people in culture describe black people ... I was angry when I heard him describing the word. It was seen not in a good way, it was degrading.

“Instantly, I remembered when I was playing for SRH in 2013 and 2014 I was being called the exact same word that he described, that was degrading to us black people. I was instantly very angry about it ... I must admit at the time I was being called that, I didn’t know what it meant. I thought it meant ‘strong stallion’ and I saw no problems with it.

“Every time I was called it, it was me and Thisara Perera. There was always laughter in the moment. I thought: ‘Hey, team-mates are happy. It must be something funny.’ Now, you could understand my frustration and anger when it was pointed out that it wasn’t funny at all.

West Indies’ Daren Sammy spoke out on Twitter about the ICC’s silence this week (Getty Images)

“I will be texting you guys, when you repeatedly called me that word over and over again ... I’ve always been one to build up the team – not bring it down. All those who called me that, you guys know yourself. Some of you have my numbers, my Instagram and Twitter. Let’s have a conversation.

“If it was in the way Minhaj meant, I am disappointed. I’m angry and I deserve an apology. Talk to me, reach out to me.”

Sammy also spoke out online last week about the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) silence amid the recent growth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“ICC and all other boards, are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me?” he wrote. “Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind.”