I do not know whether we will ever see British sport coming together in the way we have seen in the US. I think its administration is, at best, apathetic in terms of anti-racism – outside of disability sport, perhaps.
But Marcus Rashford proved a few weeks ago that the voice of athletes can be leveraged for great good regardless. Children ate instead of going hungry because a footballer spoke up. If we are serious about asking and indeed demanding that athletes be role models, speaking up on the great issues of consequence is exactly how they should be doing it. When you see what happened with Rashford in the UK, LeBron James and his school in the US, you realise in some situations, only someone like an athlete can make it happen.
If unarmed black people keep on getting shot in the back or choked to death, you can expect this to escalate in the US, but even now, NBA players have decided to go back to work having made their point, but it would be a mistake to think them finished with civil disobedience. You can expect it to move out of sports into other areas where black people play prominent roles. I think that is what we should expect.
You talk to white colleagues and friends and they do not understand that, as a black person, there is something traumatising about watching someone being murdered for looking like you. You turn on social media or the television and you see someone being murdered or maltreated, and it informs you that you are not quite enough, that your skin colour is a reason why others would think you are not a true citizen and do not deserve even the right to live.
John Amaechi is a psychologist, chief executive of APS and a former NBA player
