Vegan Race Car Champ Lewis Hamilton on Racism: “Please Do Not Sit in Silence”

This week, British athlete Lewis Hamilton—a six-time world champion race car driver and an outspoken vegan activist—asked everyone, regardless of their skin tone or nationality, to take action to fight systemic racism. Hamilton took to Instagram to make a statement in solidarity with the ongoing protests happening worldwide sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Derek Chauvin and three other ex-police officers in Minneapolis, MN on May 25. 

 

 

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This past week has been so dark. I have failed to keep hold of my emotions. I have felt so much anger, sadness and disbelief in what my eyes have seen. I am completely overcome with rage at the sight of such blatant disregard for the lives of our people. The injustice that we are seeing our brothers and sisters face all over the world time and time again is disgusting, and MUST stop. So many people seem surprised, but to us unfortunately, it is not surprising. Those of us who are black, brown or in between, see it everyday and should not have to feel as though we were born guilty, don’t belong, or fear for our lives based on the colour of our skin. Will Smith said it best, racism is not getting worse, it’s being filmed. Only now that the world is so well equipped with cameras has this issue been able to come to light in such a big way. It is only when there are riots and screams for justice that the powers that be cave in and do something, but by then it is far too late and not enough has been done. It took hundreds of thousands of peoples complaints and buildings to burn before officials reacted and decided to arrest Derek Chauvin for murder, and that is sad. Unfortunately, America is not the only place where racism lives and we continue to fail as humans when we cannot stand up for what is right. Please do not sit in silence, no matter the colour of your skin. Black Lives Matter. #blackouttuesday ✊🏽

A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on Jun 2, 2020 at 9:45am PDT

“This past week has been so dark. I have failed to keep hold of my emotions. I have felt so much anger, sadness, and disbelief in what my eyes have seen,” Hamilton said. “I am completely overcome with rage at the sight of such blatant disregard for the lives of our people. The injustice that we are seeing our brothers and sisters face all over the world time and time again is disgusting, and must stop.”

Hamilton, the son of a white mother and Black father, explained that the current protests and the underlying systemic racism behind police brutality is not new but something that has existed for a long time. “Those of us who are Black, brown, or in between, see it everyday and should not have to feel as though we were born guilty, don’t belong, or fear for our lives based on the color of our skin,” Hamilton said. “Will Smith said it best, ‘Racism is not getting worse, it’s being filmed.’”

Hamilton condemned the fact that arrests in the Floyd case were not made sooner and called upon the global community to continue to take action against injustice. “It took hundreds of thousands of peoples complaints and buildings to burn before officials reacted and decided to arrest Derek Chauvin for murder, and that is sad,” Hamilton said. “Unfortunately, America is not the only place where racism lives and we continue to fail as humans when we cannot stand up for what is right. Please do not sit in silence, no matter the color of your skin.”