Understand BLM’s Marxist Roots Before ‘Taking A Knee’: Australian Senator

Matthew Wade (L) of Australia kneels for Black Lives Matter during the 4th T20I between Australia and West Indies at Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, on July 14, 2021. Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images

A senator has called on the Australian cricket team to gain a better understanding of the Marxist-underpinnings behind the Black Lives Matter movement after the team decided to “bend the knee” prior to its match against the West Indies.

On the weekend, players from both teams, support staff, and umpires took a knee ahead of a seriesopening T20 match.

It was the first time the top-tier Australian men’s team performed the act, after refusing to do so last year. This decision was criticised by West Indian cricket legend Michael Holding.

The team released a statement saying they stood in solidarity with the West Indies team in condemning “racial injustice and discrimination.”

Aaron Finch (L) and Matthew Wade (R) of Australia kneel for Black Lives Matter during the 2nd T20I between Australia and West Indies at Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, on July 10, 2021. Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images

“As a team we'll continue to educate ourselves, provide support where possible, and create awareness for those who are victims of racial injustice, and/or discrimination in any form,” it stated.

“We kneel alongside our West Indian friends to recognise and show our support of all those who have been victims of racial injustice and/or discrimination, past and present,” he added.

The West Indies team has taken a knee before every match and printed the Black Lives Matter (BLM) logo on their uniforms.

Nicholas Pooran (L) and Chris Gayle (R) of West Indies kneel and raise their fists for Black Lives Matter during the 3rd T20I between Australia and West Indies at Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros-Islet, Saint Lucia, on July 12, 2021. Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images

South Australian Senator Alex Antic was concerned that the Australian team engaged in the gesture and that it had no place in professional sport.

“I am very concerned about the Australian cricket team making this gesture in support of BLM as it is not only anti-police and anti-capitalist but is also proudly based in neo-Marxist ideology,” he told The Epoch Times.

“If sportspeople are going to freelance in politics, then they need to get on top of the facts and understand what it is that they are actually supporting,” he added.

“While I’m sure all Australians agree that racism has no place in society, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has no place in Australian sport,” he said. “Sporting bodies like Cricket Australia also run the very real risk of alienating their grassroots supporters by politicising the game in this manner.”

Liberal Senator for South Australia Alex Antic delivering his maiden speech in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, September 17, 2019. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

The movement began last year after an incident involving the death of African American man, George Floyd. Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, used aggressive techniques during Floyd’s arrest in Minneapolis—Chauvin was later convicted of second-degree murder.

Rallies held around America in solidarity with Floyd’s family then spawned a global movement to stand up to racial discrimination, which many argued was the cause for Floyd’s death. However, the movement soon evolved into violent protests which saw widespread property destruction, murders of police officers, and the destruction of historical statues that were associated with slavery and colonialism.

Retired African American football player Burgess Owens told American Thought Leaders, “Well, let’s look at the seed of this Antifa or this Black Lives Matter. This organisation that is now running the whole thing across our country and is being televised, was started by three Marxists, whose purpose was to destroy the nuclear family, because it’s not a cool thing and destroy capitalism.”

“We have this ideology, so people hide behind things that sound good and go and destroy our own communities. They go and destroy black businesses,” he added.

The BLM website did originally state that founder Alicia Garza was a “trained Marxist” and the group did advocate for the removal of the traditional family unit. However, these messages have since been scrubbed from the site.

“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable,” it stated.