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Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he was “bullied and beaten” as a child due to being black, leaving “negative psychological effects that cannot be measured”.
The six-time Formula One champion, who has been widely praised for his vocal stance against racial inequality, added that he had to learn karate as a child to defend himself in fights and says the “painful memories” still provide part of the fuel that drives his racing career.
Earlier this week, Hamilton called out his fellow drivers for their silence as protests over racial injustice erupted across the US following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in handcuffs, by a white police officer.
“I’ve been reading every day to try to stay on top of everything that’s been happening in our fight against racism, and it’s brought back so many painful memories from my childhood,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram. “Vivid memories of the challenges I faced when I was a kid, as I’m sure many of you who have experienced racism or some sort of discrimination have faced.
“I have spoken so little about my personal experiences because I was taught to keep it in, don’t show weakness, kill them with love and beat them on the track. But when it was away from the track, I was bullied, beaten and the only way I could fight this was to learn to defend myself, so I went to karate. The negative psychological effects cannot be measured.
“This is why I drive the way I do, it is far deeper than just doing a sport, I’m still fighting. Thank God I had my father, a strong black figure who I could look up to, that I knew understood and would stand by my side no matter what. Not all of us have that but we need to stand together with those who may not have that hero to lean on and protect them. We must unite!
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Lewis Hamilton has always been a man apart. The higher he rises in the highest form of auto racing, the lonelier it gets at the top. Before the coronavirus put life as we’d come to know it on pause, right as the Formula One season was revving up for a mid-March kickoff, the ace Mercedes pilot stood on the brink of statistical immortality, merely eight victories and a world championship shy of becoming the greatest to ever do it. That the 35-year-old Briton also happened to be born to a Caucasian mother and a black father makes his singular status in this lily white game at once a breakthrough and a burden. And a brother can only bear a weight that heavy for so long before his legs go all wobbly.
Despite 13 seasons of unrelenting strain, it wasn’t until the recent tsunami of Black Lives Matter demonstrations that Hamilton ultimately reached his buckling point. As protests broke out across the globe in the wake of the bestial killing of George Floyd at the hands of four depraved Minneapolis police officers, Hamilton has not been bashful of endorsing the movement, or castigating his sport for steering clear of this subject altogether. “I see those of you staying silent,” he wrote on Instagram, “some of you the biggest stars yet you stay silent in the midst of injustice.”
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