After the latest turn in the Azeem Rafiq/Yorkshire saga, beware those who would like this conversation to be closed down
It’s interesting to see people suddenly feel able to dismiss the whole racism-in-cricket horror show, because Yorkshire whistleblower Azeem Rafiq has now himself been found to have sent racist messages. Logically, this feels questionable. Presumably the fact that former England batsman Alex Hales was pictured in blackface in 2009 is further evidence that there is nothing to see here. If, in the coming days, some player is found to have had a passion for monkey chants or white hoods, then I think we could safely say there is absolutely no point discussing the subject of racism in cricket and beyond for one second more. If “they’re all at it”, then we don’t have a problem with “it” at all.
Except, of course, we really do. On Thursday, two days after detailing his horrible and depressing treatment at Yorkshire, it emerged that Rafiq had himself exchanged horrible and depressing antisemitic messages on Facebook 10 years ago. Their discovery has drawn what at least looks like a sincere apology from Rafiq, which I suppose we have to be mildly grateful for in a saga notably short on apologies of any sort at all.
