Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has been criticised for comments that he made regarding BLM protesters taking the knee, in which he said that the symbolic act ‘seems to be taken from Game of Thrones’. Tara Pilkington reports.
As a show of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement, many athletes have taken a knee during games. This act was first popularised by American football player Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee as a protest against racism and police brutality.
However, Dominic Raab seems to be ignorant to the history of this symbol, after stating in an interview that he views the symbolic action as “a symbol of subjugation and subordination”, and suggested that it originated from the popular TV show Game of Thrones.
Raab said he understood why some people took the knee, but that he would only do so: “for the Queen and the Mrs when I asked her to marry me”.
The act of taking a knee pose was adopted as a secular protest against racism and has spread widely following the death of George Floyd last month as a way of showing support for BLM and respect for those killed as a result of racism.
David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, tweeted in response to these comments: “This is not just insulting to the Black Lives Matter movement, it is deeply embarrassing for Dominic Raab. He is supposed to be the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom.”
