Lewis Hamilton: The world has ‘opened its eyes’ to racism
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Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says the world has finally begun to “open its eyes to the realities of racism”.Hamilton has posted a number of strong anti-racist messages on his social media channels in recent weeks since the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in the United States. Floyd’s death has sparked protests and demonstrations worldwide.The six-time world champion criticised his peers in F1 for remaining silent on the subject, saying he has been overcome by “rage” about the events in America, before calling on governments across the world to tear down statues of slave traders.In a new post on Tuesday evening, Hamilton acknowledged the “positive steps” that have since been taken but stressed more still needs to be done to combat racism and discrimination.“These past few weeks, we’ve seen the world open its eyes to the realities of racism today,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram.“People all over the world have united, and are using their voices and platforms in the fight for racial equality, and against police brutality and white supremacy.“While we still have a long way to go in addressing the issue, I want to take a moment to appreciate the positive steps that have been taken so far, as a result of our collective voices and actions.“We’ve seen laws being passed. We’ve seen police officers held accountable and charged for their fatal actions.“Brands have started to align themselves with the Black Lives Matters movement, and are educating themselves on how they can do better,” he added.“There’s also been a surge in the sale of anti-racist books, and many are watching films and documentaries to better educate themselves on our experience.“More and more, we are seeing people wanting to learn about black history.”4“This is only the beginning and there is still so much change to come.” View this post on Instagram These past few weeks, we’ve seen the world open its eyes to the realities of racism today. People all over the world have united, and are using their voices and platforms in the fight for racial equality, and against police brutality and white supremacy. While we still have a long way to go in addressing this issue, I want to take a moment to appreciate the positive steps that have been taken so far, as a result of our collective voices and actions. We’ve seen laws being passed. We’ve seen police officers held accountable and charged for their fatal actions. Brands have started to align themselves with the Black Lives Matter movement, and are educating themselves on how they can do better. There’s also been a surge in the sale of anti-racist books, and many are watching films and documentaries to better educate themselves on our experience. More and more, we are seeing people wanting to learn about black history. This is only the beginning and there is still so much change to come. : @misanharrimanA post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on Jun 9, 2020 at 1:12pm PDTHamilton has been publicly backed in his stance against racism by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and F1 managing director Ross Brawn.The Briton will return to the cockpit of F1 machinery for the first time since pre-season testing in Barcelona at the end of February on Wednesday as Mercedes steps up its preparations for the return of racing next month with a two-day private test at Silverstone.
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