Yahoo News Welsh sprinter Sam Gordon says racism is a daily issue for him in the UK
As thousands protest around the world following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died on May 25 when a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, Welsh sprinter Sam Gordon has spoken out about the racism he suffers in the UK.
Speaking to BBC Sport Wales, Gordon said, ‘I wake up some mornings and I just want to cry. Enough is enough’.
‘Oh, you’re black so you can run fast. Oh, you probably know how to run fast because you’re running from police. What’s that about?’ said Gordon. ‘It happens to me almost on a daily basis in the UK’.
‘What usually happens is there’s a big outcry for change, and people do all the social media work they can do and then it will just go silent and people forget. People like me won’t forget because we’ll still be leaving the house. We’ll still be leaving the house thinking what’s going to happen because of the colour of my skin. What’s going to happen to my friends or family because of the colour of their skin. It’s always in the back of your head.’
Talking about why he spoke out, Gordon explained: ‘If I don’t do it, it’s another time where I’ve not said something when I should. I want people to understand that racism is happening day in, day out, to people that you’re meeting on a daily basis. If you’re not speaking or acting up on racial discrimination when you see it happen, you’re literally a part of the problem. This is an ongoing problem.’
The 25-year-old sprinter is hoping to run at the Tokyo Olympics next summer.
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