What's next for Ollie Robinson?
I really don't have an idea of what ECB is going to do in the Ollie Robinson matter, but whatever it is, I hope it is to further the drive for an inclusive sport.
We arrived at this moment because of Ollie Robinson. He made a number of poor choices in the past and they are rearing their head in the present.
Yesterday I had no idea that I would be writing this article, heck, five minutes ago I had no idea that I would be doing so. And that is because of two things, one, people do not like to read about politics, especially race politics in sports. It's an emotive subject and some get defensive while others seek vengeance. When the task is taken upon by a black person, there is even greater hesitancy to read it. Those that do read it have certain expectations of the writer. Either way, it's difficult to win. The most likely outcome is lose-lose, not win-win.
Secondly, I am working on something else, an article which I am very invested in. So, I would rather be working on that instead of discussing politics. But, sport is political.
So, hey, here we are.
So, the ECB has suspended Ollie Robinson as they "investigate" the matter of his historic tweets. I don't think there is anything to investigate the tweets are there for everyone to see. But look, after the work they have put in to make the world see that they have a level of commitment to creating an inclusive sport (and all those countless t-shirts that they have printed affirming their commitment to be an inclusive board) they really couldn't do anything, could they?
No one wants to be seen as someone who talks a big game but does not deliver when it matters. All their PR work to rehabilitate their image would go down the drain.
This is why Ollie Robinson is where he is today, in the danger of being one of those one-Test players that litter cricket history. I wouldn't want that for him. I mean, for any player, playing international cricket, is a lifelong dream. For it to be shattered just like that, after a debut where he took seven wickets and scored a handy 42 batting at 8, that would be horrible.
Robinson looks like he can have a bright future as an international cricketer. He has the skill and he also has the temperament. His ability to compartmentalize things so that he is able to focus on the job at hand despite the off-field events around him is something worth mentioning.
But it could happen that despite his great debut, this would be his only Test, because when boards and organizations decide to make an example out of someone, they go all out on punishment. England has enough bowling stocks to simply shadow ban Robinson, and if they felt like getting another Ollie Robinson there is someone else who goes by that name, born on the same day, who plays for Kent
Anyway in situations like this, I do not think that punishment is the way to go. In fact, the word should not appear as the ECB takes any action on the matter. I mean, if Robinson had said the words this year or last year, I would have a slightly different take on things. Just slightly different.
You see, the problem with punishment or making examples out of people in cases of racism, sexism, islamophobia, homophobia and other forms of discriminations, is that it creates a divide. There is no way to dress punishment in a way that does not make it appear as an attempt to appease one side while alienating the other.
This is not helpful to the cause of inclusivity. It only makes one side more covert in their dealings with the ones they discriminate against. This does no one any good.
Even though the ECB means well, there is the risk of them taking an action that can have unintended consequences. If you Google the term unintended consequences you will come across a number of examples of decisions that were made with the best intentions but ended up with the most disastrous results. From Eugene Schieffelin's birds in New York to the cobra and rat farming in India and Vietnam, among the many examples.
Failing to consider the effects of the effects could lead to an even worse situation down the line. It's not enough to think of the immediate results.
So, with Ollie Robinson's case, they need to tread carefully. We don't want a situation where Ollie Robinson to be turned into a poster-boy of a bad cause by racist groups. Look, this is not far-fetched, this is something that can and will happen. These fringe groups are always on the lookout for causes and people to use, even without their knowledge or cooperation. We also don't want Ollie Robinson to feel as if he got the short end of the stick.
No, we do not want that for cricket. We want better, and better can be achieved.
How? Through rehabilitative measures. You see, instead of punishment, they should seek to rehabilitate.
The idea with rehabilitative measures is to encourage Robinson to rethink the tweets, approach them in a different light. That way he develops appreciation of why the conversation on his historic tweets is ongoing now, so many years after he posted them. In any case, for all we know, he might have grown into a better person since the time he posted the tweets, which is years ago. He might now find them terrible, in retrospect.
And if he has grown into a better person, it is also possible that he might go on to feel aggrieved over being punished for the actions he repented from on his own accord. That is not helpful to anyone.
But, now that we are here, what’s to be done? Instead of punishment, I think it is important that he gets to understand what impact those tweets might have had on someone else. Yes they are in the past, but words have power, words can hurt, even words from the past. They cannot be undone, but if we learn to care about each other, then there is hope for tomorrow.
This can only be achieved by education, not punishment. In fact, this might be a good time for the ECB to launch a program that seeks to educate. Yes, the t-shirts are cool, but they don't really do a lot, do they? I mean, I grew up in Zimbabwe and at one time I wore a ZANU-PF t-shirt just to avoid being beaten by ZANU-PF youths. All I am trying to say is that anyone can wear a t-shirt without committing to the cause printed on it.
If anyone at the ECB bothered to listen to Michael Holding when he spoke last year in July, then they would know that there is only one way to deal with this situation: education.
"Education is important unless we want to continue living the life that we are living and want to continue having demonstrations every now and then and a few people saying a few things," Holding said.
In this case, education happens through information exchange. So, I think if Ollie Robinson gets to have conversations with people from the social classes that he tweeted about 7 or 8 years ago, if he asked them how those tweets made them (and still makes them) feel, he will develop a better understanding than having to pay a fine. A fine will hurt his pocket, but it won’t have a positive impact on his thinking. The best thing for everyone would be to learn from the “other side”, understand why such seemingly harmless tweets can hurt.
The plan should be for him to understand. Help him think again.
Yes, it is only one person, only Ollie Robinson. But that one person can also be a conduit for greater change. He can also help by sharing lessons of what he learns to other people who see his historic tweets as just a bit of harmless fun by a misguided teenager, people who are tempted to say, “But they are from 8 years ago, can we just move on?” Ollie Robinson could teach a lot of youngsters about these issues. He could teach them not to be afraid of getting caught with tone deaf tweets, but teach them to understand why they are not the best things to put out into the world.
Ripples of change, that is what I would like to see.
It is through things like this that we can strive for the ideal situation where we would not need to have these kind of conversations in cricket, and inclusivity comes more naturally across the board, from the players to the fans.
Ollie Robinson is offering us a chance to take a step in the right direction. I say us because this is now bigger than just ECB and Ollie himself. This will set a benchmark on how boards will approach these matters of historic tweets. I would like that benchmark to be something that builds, something that helps everyone to make huge gains in this area.
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