Lewis Hamilton will not boycott Belgian Grand Prix in protest against another police brutality in the United States targeting a black man.
Lewis Hamilton has ruled out the possibility of boycotting the Belgian Grand Prix unlike his counterparts in Basketball, baseball and football in the US as another police brutality on a black man has shaken the world yet again.
Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old man was shot seven times by the police on his back in Kenosha, Blake survived but he is now partially paralyzed. The event has once again sparked protests in the country, spiralling the anger since George Floyd incident.
“It’s a shame that is what’s needed over there to get a reaction. But that is in America and I don’t know really if me doing anything here will particularly have any effect.” Sebastian Vettel said drivers’ pre-race anti-racism protests would continue. said Hamilton.
Hamilton, F1’s only black driver, said in the build-up to this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix: “It’s incredible what many out there in the States are doing within their sports, all the way down to the people who are hosting.
“So many people are standing with the players and really pushing for change. I haven’t spoken to anyone about it but I am really proud of so many out there and I do stand unified with them.
“I don’t really know how us not doing the race is a thing. But I will try and speak to F1 to see what else we can do to continue to raise awareness and help push. And as a sport, we all need to be aligned and supporting one another, even though it is a different sport.”
Vettel, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said all 20 F1 drivers were united in their desire to keep pressing the message home.
“We sent a strong message after the first event and our feeling was very clear that we wanted to continue sending that message,” he said.
“It is one of those things that does not go away overnight. How long will we continue? There is no answer to that. It is important to keep sending the message and that’s what we will continue to do.”
The Ferrari driver added: “We know it does not change things overnight and it is only a very small contribution, but hopefully everyone who tunes in and sees it gets the point and takes a little bit of that for the next steps he is facing in life.
“Because one thing is to take action in public but more importantly is how everyone is acting and confronting it once the cameras are off. That is true for us and it is true for everyone else.”
Lewis Hamilton activism in sport has opened the dialogue
Hamilton has unapologetically been honest about the discrimination and lack of diversity in the sport. He further accelerated his concerns regarding racial discrimination and urged Formula 1 fraternity to finally speak up.
And anyone asking Lewis Hamilton to boycott a race in the most disunited sport in terms of racial discussions, would be astronomically dumb. He’d hang him self out to dry. Shit only gets done when it’s a United front.
F1 couldn’t be further than that.
— Dre Harrison (@Harrison101HD) August 27, 2020
In the process, Hamilton even got criticism but a majority of people supported his viewpoints and at least created a space to tackle this issue, which is rampant across the Western world.
