Retired American sprinter Michael Johnson believes slight progress had been made in the fight against racism in the US.
Johnson won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals during his career.
The 53-year-old believes, though, that progress on racism in America is not going to happen immediately.
“We are seeing progress. But that progress, and we have to be very careful with the word progress, this is progress in what will be a generational fight,” he told the BBC.
“This is not going to change – it’s been hundreds of years of systemic and institutionalised racism, and what we’ve seen over the last four or five months is only a start.
Michael Johnson says progress on #racism in the US is not going to happen immediately #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/xs9zjmhsRl
— Kristine Kirby (@kristinekirby) September 25, 2020
“The Black Lives Matter movement is highlighting the racism and it is taking the first step. It has done a phenomenal job of getting people, even myself, to sort of wake up and see that what we thought, the progress that we have made has been phenomenal, but it is far from over.”
There have been several protests in the US over racial injustice, as the Black Lives Matter Movement continues to gain roots.
Johnson says people have woken up and sees the recent trend as a start to what will be a generational fight against racism.
Couldn’t think of a better start to our morning than listening to @CP3 @MJGold @missyfranklin talk about the power of an athlete and their commitment to the work of #SportforGood at @ConcordiaSummit pic.twitter.com/2yl7zKFIoo
— Laureus Sport for Good USA (@Laureus_USA) September 23, 2020
“There is still a tremendous amount of work to do because there is a tremendous amount of racism that we didn’t even know exists that is affecting black people every single day that must be rectified and that is going to take a very, very long time.
“We have to be conscious of that and we cannot get frustrated. And we cannot expect like everything else that we have or we experience these days, with the advancement of technology and all of the innovation, where everything that we want we get immediately. This is not going to happen that way,” he added.
