Balaji says a united social fight is needed to eradicate racism, discrimination of all forms

Bengaluru, June 14: Usually, racism and discrimination are treated as dark subjects that people often do not want to tread upon. However, the society has woken up to the evil after the George Floyd murder in Miami, USA, recently.

It has forced people from all fields of life to open up and speak against the menace and former India pace bowler L Balaji said the whole society needs to come together to curb this virus, like they fight unitedly against the Covid 19 pandemic.

"I believe that there is racism of all kinds, discrimination of all kinds. We must at least ensure that there is social responsibility ingrained in the next generation. That can happen only when we don't indulge in any form of bullying. Calling someone with a supposedly funny nickname may draw a few laughs at that particular point, but we can never truly know the extent of psychological trauma it may cause to the person who is at the receiving end," said Balaji in a chat show -- Homerun with AV -- with sports commentator Arun Venugopal on his YouTube channel Gethist Creative.

"You are called all sorts of names based on your face, size, and height. Such bullying is 100 percent condemnable, and anything that psychologically affects children should not be encouraged at any cost. There needs to be greater sensitation of the problem, and it has to start from the elders. Only then can the children learn by example. So many generations have suffered from such behaviour; it is about time we put an end to it," he said.

Balaji said the menace can only be eradicated when the society comes together and mount a unified fight.

"At all levels -- be it school, college, or any industry for that matter - there is a tendency among some people to target someone's perceived weakness. A bully goes after easy targets. There are plenty of rules and regulations that seek to prevent that. However, until and unless people of different classes, races, and nationality recognise the seriousness of the problem - like they have in the case of the COVID-19 - this can't be solved. The fear for our lives has led to greater emphasis on social hygiene. However, how are we going to quell the virus of racism and discrimination that has contaminated our minds," said Balaji.