[4] In 2009, he came 4th in the Copeland Trophy. You've just got to keep going forward with it.". There were the newspapermen who talked over him every time he opened his mouth. Read Australias most-read columnist, the cartoons of the newspaper that bears our countrys name, or wade through social media for five minutes and tell me this is just a football problem. Until December 2013, the football world had known him as Harry O'Brien, an AFL star with a social conscience and big ideas. [11] He stood up to the racism and continues to do so. "Given the club's inability to come clean, and the way it has attempted to publicly and privately attack my reputation, I cannot accept this 'integrity' process has been proposed in good faith.". But that stuff is easy. When he said the last line, Lumumba knew the opposite was true. In December 2013, he changed his surname back to "Lumumba" and discontinued the use of the nickname "Harry", citing his journey of decolonisation as the reason for the change. I don't think there's any shame or disappointment here this is a day of pride,' he said. After all, their courageous stands intersected and bore similar hallmarks: proud black men highlighting uncomfortable truths and paying a monumental price. Out of respect for First Nations people, I call it 'So-called Australia'. "I hope I can inspire children in the same way he inspired me," Lumumba says. His thread of tweets on Tuesday follows allegations . He all of a sudden 10 years later wants to be a humanitarian (sic),' he said of Lumumba. I felt this profound connection," Lumumba says. Sport, religion and family: Who is incoming AFL boss Andrew Dillon? He'd devoured Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father, and been struck by his and Obama's common experiences. Too much hard work. If I was being honest, it really wasnt too far removed from my own perception of him. 'Eddie McGuire's inability to let go of the illusion he's constructed of himself does not serve the club, the code, or the community. May 29, 2013 was the day everything changed for Hritier Lumumba. Heritier Lumumba, who is of Congolese and Brazilian heritage, says he was called "chimp" by some team mates at Collingwood over the first nine of his 10 years at one of the most iconic clubs in. Certain layers of context are essential to understanding how Lumumba's confrontation of McGuire led to his exile from Collingwood and estrangement from the game. All rights reserved. [15], Collingwood wanted to sit down with Lumumba to reconcile, but Lumumba refused until he received a full acknowledgement and apology over his treatment. We met a fierce man determined to maintain his connection to his ancestors, a man who at first tried to assimilate, who was then put in the too-hard basket, and who was finally actively briefed against by his former club. He had previously recounted experiences to club and league management. He kicked a goal against the Kangaroos shortly after his debut, and did enough to be retained on the rookie list. The AFL has previously said it is working to stamp out racism in the sport. Happily distant from the AFL world, he now lives in a city where his name is a byword for moral conviction and strength indeed, one that boasts a mural of Patrice Lumumba. He was 18 years old and adjusting to life on the Collingwood rookie list. I've been racially discriminated against in the US in ways that I hadn't in Australia, and I'm still adjusting to the racism here. The Roman Empire was certainly an equal opportunity oppressor. And the betrayals were many. "A large percentage of African-Americans descend from the Kongo Kingdom," he says. "I want to meet Obama too," said a reader letter in the Herald Sun. Theres a generation of young sportspeople who are no longer swimming in their lane, who are no longer willing to do all the heavy lifting on race. The more I celebrated the greatness of being black and being African, it caused a noticeable reaction from those around me.". Nor did white men care much when they were overrunning other white men in Europe. After the McGuire incident in May, Lumumba says Collingwood didn't see fit to further educate its players. Lumumba says the second was the punishment he received once he challenged the club's apparent toxicity. ", Yet McLachlan also cast doubt on Lumumba's mental health: "With respect to Collingwood I know Tanya [Hosch, AFL's general manager of inclusion and social policy] has met with Hritier this issue is really about where he's at, and his state of mind and his welfare. "We're all on a journey to do the best we can, but I think our history is pretty strong. [27][28] He was the AFL's multicultural ambassador from 2006 to 2013. In his travels through the African diaspora and continent. In the AFL arenas where Lumumba was heckled and abused. Former Collingwood FC player, Heritier Lumumba, has described watching a press conference of club leaders responding to an unofficially released report into culture inside the organisation as . He ripped down the poster and reported it to the club. "Central to this, we have all been subjected to centuries of anti-African indoctrination," Lumumba says. "In Brazil, a black youth is killed every 23 minutes. 12:52 BST 07 Feb 2021 His mental health was questioned. That causes a lot of damage and halts the progression of society. We learn, we strive to get better. It wasn't always that way. I spent time looking into science-based research on the compound psilocybin (derived from 'magic mushrooms'). "There were far-reaching consequences to the way I was being portrayed in the media, not only in my professional life but in my personal life," Lumumba says. [23] He was raised by his Australian stepfather and was 19 years old when he was reunited with his father, after spending 13 years apart. Lumumba says it was eventually used by the club to silence him. "Things that happen inside the Westpac Centre stay inside the Westpac Centre and probably we've been too open in the past," McGuire told Fox Footy. Lumumba, however, returned fire at the laid-back response delivered by McGuire following the report's findings. "It's very reductionist and discriminatory," Lumumba says. "Keeping the focus on whether or not the nickname was used has been a distraction from the real problem and from the impact it has had on me.". Andrew Krakouer, Leon Davis, Chris Dawes, Chris Egan, Brent Macaffer and Shae McNamara have all registered public support. They have been taught since early childhood that black people are inferior, which is why they consistently reinforce damaging stereotypes of us.". Yet in the blink of an eye, Lumumba's profound connection was a public humiliation. Lumumba still had two years to run on his Collingwood contract as the 2014 season dawned. Hritier Lumumba (formerly known as Harry O'Brien;[1] born 15 November 1986) is a Brazilian-born Australian former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Then he came to love the melting pot of cultures and creeds and the daily parade of humanity in all its forms. Mr Lumumba alleged the organisations had failed to protect him from abuse and took no action to stop or penalise players. "Opioids are highly accessible and widely used in the AFL. Also, my maternal ancestors are native to the Americas, just like many people in Los Angeles. Indeed, for years, every time Lumumba would air his grievances, my flinch reaction was always the same: Heritier, you need to let this go. Why didn't he put a stop it there and then? However, it is now very clear to me, that he and I have fundamental differences in our understanding of what racism/white supremacy is, and how it should be effectively dealt with. 'We're not a mean-spirited club, we're not a racist club. As far as Collingwood, Lumumba and Buckley go, this entire issue seems unresolvable. "I knew that I had to do it," Lumumba says. "We come from the same people, and it feels like I'm with family here. "I'm just another Australian kid who wants to play AFL," he told The Herald Sun in 2006. It meant all things 'team': solidarity, fraternity, supporting your mate. [8] He retired from AFL football in December. Imbued with greater purpose and committed to finally drawing a line in the sand, he returned to Collingwood and began his most intense and transformative pre-season training regime yet. Collingwood did all it could. To be unable to express oneself naturally is excruciatingly painful. Following an indiscreet press conference "I get the impression that everyone thinks he's a basket case," the coach said at one point he was hailed by the football press for "a Buckley masterclass". "Harry O'Brien no longer: Magpie to change surname to Lumumba", "Magpies Harry O'Brien defender a leader in the making", "Clark a Cat, three-way deal sees Varcoe join Magpies", "Heritier Lumumba ready to return for Melbourne in 2017 after concussion ruined 2016", "Lumumba still not training as concussion lingers", "Heritier Lumumba retires from AFL following medical advice over concussion issues", "Lumumba slams Pies as 'racist, sexist boys' club', "Heritier Lumumba Collingwood, documentary, Eddie McGuire, Nathan Buckley", "Hritier Lumumba On White Fragility, White Supremacy, And Waleed Aly", "Waleed Aly 'indifferent' to racism: Heritier Lumumba", "Hritier Lumumba rejects Collingwood's offer to meet over club racism allegations", "Collingwood Crisis Deepens: Two More Players Confirm 'Chimp' Nickname For Hritier Lumumba", "AFL 2020: Lumumba, Heritier Lumumba racism claims Collingwood, Nathan Buckley, Paul Roos, Melbourne, Harry O'Brien, AFL racism", "Collingwood Football Club is guilty of systemic racism, review finds", "Calls row For The Project Hosts To Apologise To Heritier Lumumba On-Air For 'Disgraceful' Coverage", "Media personality apologises after interview with Heritier Lumumba resurfaces", "Former Channel 10 Exec Urges The Project To Explain Missing Hritier Lumumba Clips", "Harry reclaims his birth name: Heritier Lumumba", "Heritier Lumumba: How he shed the game and the name that once defined him", "O'hAilpin, Carlile sign up as multicultural ambassadors", "Gillard names Collingwood star local champion", "Humble Harry recognised for multiculturalism work", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hritier_Lumumba&oldid=1147495829, Collingwood Football Club Premiership players, Australian rules footballers from Western Australia, Australian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent, Brazilian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent, People educated at Rossmoyne Senior High School, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 March 2023, at 10:08. Video, 00:00:42Adam Goodes: Rival fans racism made me quit AFL, Chaos at port as thousands rush to leave Sudan, Air strikes pound Sudan capital as truce extended, Suspected IS chief killed in Syria, Turkey says. A black AFL star and his former Collingwood teammate have traded online insults after he was accused of inventing his own racist nickname. "There were tens of millions of people around the world who were mourning the death of Muhammad Ali," Lumumba says. His allegations have been supported by other teammates, but rejected by senior Collingwood officials and coaches. In June, it was announced that Lumumba's time at Collingwood would finally be subjected to something more rigorous than media analysis a 'review' commissioned by Collingwood itself and carried out by Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman Larissa Behrendt, professor of law and director of research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney. After words of warning to Buckley and other leaders, he stood before the team and finally tore off the scab, sharing his personal history, explaining his discomfiture with not only the racist joking but the homophobic use of terms like "poofter", "f****t" and "homo". "They bit their tongue and that's what they have to live with for the rest of their life," McNamara told Seven News in June. To Collingwood, he would never return. As in five of the previous six years, his peers elected him to Collingwood's 2013 leadership group. "I was born on the sacred indigenous lands of the Guarani, in a quaint little hospital that sits on top of a former harbour area, which was built as a port for the arrival of enslaved Africans," Lumumba says. Theres nothing to be gained from any of this. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/heritier-lumumba-strength-in-african-culture-collingwood-afl/12820942, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article, Jock Zonfrillo, celebrated chef and judge on MasterChef Australia, dies aged 46, MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo remembered for 'wicked sense of humour', Lauren Cranston jailed for eight years over one of Australia's biggest tax frauds, Tony Abbott mounts attack on Voice after a spat with parliamentary committee, 'They will forever know their dad was a hero': 1,000 mourners farewell slain NSW paramedic, Nurse driving home from shift among victims of triple-fatal crash involving allegedly stolen car, There are 11 First Nations MPs and senators. They have had many chances to get on the right side of history. We can learn. In telling his story, former Collingwood premiership player Hritier Lumumba hammered home how far Australian rules still has to go in talking about race and class. Yet word-perfect accounts of the meeting-room argument were soon splashed across Melbourne newspapers. "They painted me with the centuries-old stereotype of the crazy black man, when in fact it is them who suffer from the psychosis of white supremacy. During my career, I was aware of many cases of overuse and dependency by players throughout the league, which is highly dangerous." Then he adopted words of advice from a mentor, the African-American academic Professor Lucius Outlaw Jr: "The lessons of histories of encounters between white folks and folks African and of African descent have taught us that it is not in our best interests to leave the education of white children and young people solely up to white people. "When people are in positions of power, yet have not taken the necessary steps to unlearn and deprogram a history of racist indoctrination, the decisions they make are dangerous. "This is my personal experience and I have to do this in the public eye and it's really tough," Lumumba told reporters. At the worst possible time for Lumumba, Collingwood's form nose-dived and the club's atmosphere darkened. There, he says, he feels a greater sense of belonging. So, Lumumba continues to agitate for change in the AFL, fearing the potential for history to repeat as young African Australians enter new spaces to pursue their dreams. "Every roll call it was difficult for the teachers to pronounce my name. Former Australian Rules footballer Hritier Lumumba is suing his former club and league over racism he says he endured in his playing career. Adam Goodes: Rival fans racism made me quit AFL. Lumumba's non-attendance at the next day's training session ensured non-selection for the club's Friday-night clash with Carlton. It had darker undertones too. [9], In 2017, the documentary Fair Game was released about Heritier's life and his stories of racism while playing professional football. News that US President Barack Obama would soon visit Australia prompted Lumumba to fire off an email to Nick Hatzoglou, then head of the AFL's multicultural programs. I hope this provokes conversation tonight in every household, in all of your workplaces,' he said. My name is a symbol of black power and revolution, and ties me to the spirit of great men such as Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Patrice Lumumba, the father of Congolese independence, who was martyred in the name of Pan-Africanism.". Lumumba says he was three months into life as an AFL player when the racist jokes began on training grounds, in locker rooms and anywhere else that Collingwood players gathered en masse. 'Five or more men': Ex-Collingwood star Heritier Lumumba drops shock AFL porn bombshell news.com.au 626K subscribers Subscribe 2.6K views 10 months ago The former Collingwood champ has detailed. Heritier, I offer you the opportunity to put a full and uncut version of our conversations on public record so as to provide context to our conversations and the support that was provided to you above and beyond that which could be reasonably expected in the circumstances. Lumumba published a book in 2014 called It's Cool to be Conscious, that includes personal stories from his life, both on and off the field. Five police helicopters circled above their heads. "I understand the strength of belonging to the Bakongo people," Lumumba says. "I was fortunate that there were people who really cared about my success, and invested so much time and energy into me," Lumumba says. Former Australian Rules footballer Hritier Lumumba is suing his former club and league over racism he says he endured in his playing career. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. After Fair Game aired, McLachlan was on the front foot. So often has the epithet "chimp" been used in discussions of Hritier Lumumba in the last four years, its power to shock is diminished. I felt a level of isolation in those early days, but it seemed even more isolating and tiresome to constantly speak up.". But the industry has a tendency to marvel at its own magnificence. Now Lumumba was "erratic", "disgruntled", "troubled", "bizarre", "outspoken", "fragile", "rogue", a "sook" and a "destabilising influence" with "serious issues". "They love to use descriptors like 'war-torn' to describe our homelands, or focus on the extreme poverty in our countries, instead of telling the full story that centuries of oppression and exploitation by Europeans has created those conditions. At his own expense, he hired a full-time assistant, a massage therapist, a chef to create a specially formulated diet and, later, a personal coach who specialised in conflict resolution. "It was a refuge for me while I was playing football in those early years," Lumumba says. 'It was disturbing to see how easily Eddie and the CFC board members reduced the severity of this ''profound and enduring harm'' to mere ''mishaps'' - as if they were talking about spilling tea on a couch rather than being found guilty of years of systemic racism.'. In the days that followed, they would join the crowds on the streets of LA, demanding an end to the dehumanisation of black lives. Pictures: Getty Images. Lumumba's surname was changed to "O'Brien" when he was 9 years old and was given the nickname "Harry" shortly after, becoming known as "Harry O'Brien". During an event for Brazil's 'black consciousness' week, he was performing a traditional Kongolese dance. En 2015, en marge des guerres civiles syrienne et irakienne, confronte une vague de rfugis sans prcdent ayant afect ses tats membres d'une manire trs ingale l'Union europenne a propos un systme obligatoire de quotas de rpartition des rfugis dans l'ensemble du territoire communautaire. In October 2014, following another torrent of attacks on his character in the press, Lumumba was officially traded to Melbourne. Reclaiming it punctuated the year in which everything changed. Harry O'Brien was not my name, and it was a constant reminder that white Australian culture had colonised my identity. Its easy to cancel the memberships of some knucklehead. He played in numbers 43, 30 and his final number 8. , updated He was one of the few people in football, and surely the only one at Collingwood, to stand up to Eddie McGuire. Others look on in silence. "I read the words 'BLACK LIVES MATTER', surrounding me at every angle imaginable, and my mind turned to my family in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Hritier Lumumba says. Delivered to club executives on December 17 but kept secret until Monday, the report's authors said Collingwood was now perceived by some as 'synonymous with off-field and on-field racism in Australian sport'. [Lumumba's] capacity to speak his mind with stunning clarity is so rare in football that it struggles to deal with it.". In his football, support and mentorship came from the likes of Paul Licuria, James Clement, Marty Girvan, Scott Watters and David Buttifant. As their final selection in the rookie draft of 2004, he was Collingwood's most expendable player. Lumumba added that he has gone on the public record stating that he adopted a 'go along to get along' approach to 'cope' with the club's culture between 2004 and 2013. "But the way I see it, the isolation I felt and the prejudice that pervades white Australia is far more detrimental to my wellbeing. I've spoken to some people and I've found different things, the nuances that I had no idea [about]. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. One thing is certain: nobody lived the Collingwood ideal more earnestly than Hritier Lumumba, taking to heart the club's origin story as a beacon of hope to the impoverished underclasses of Collingwood the gritty inner-northern suburb in which Lumumba alone among Pies players chose to make his home. In 2020, the Do Better report proved that CFC had still failed to meet the minimum legal requirements for human rights protection in a workplace." One night, he says he was ambushed by two security guards at Collingwood's training facility and had his parking pass forcibly removed from his hands, trapping him in the carpark until a teammate returned from home to let him out. They're proud to pronounce it. ", Others painted Lumumba like a dog at heel: "Collingwood has dramatically won the feud with rebel [Lumumba] after demanding he return to the club today on its hard-line terms. He said that Collingwood coach, Nathan Buckley, told him to back off his accusations because it would throw the club president, Eddie McGuire, "under the bus". It's a long way removed from his school days in Perth, when few could be bothered learning his name. "See ya later," chortled Tony Shaw on Fox Footy. The seed had been sown long before 2013. On one hand, it begged the question as to what faults Behrendt was expected to find. Hritier Lumumba net worth Mar, 2023 Hritier Lumumba (formerly known as Harry O'Brien; born 15 November 1986) is a Brazilian-born Australian former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). "That is when I really began to notice the tone shifting a lot," Lumumba says. "I was able to freely express myself through dance, percussion and singing without the overbearing presence of the white gaze. "His performance caught the eye of the Jongo Bassan da Serrinha community, which my mother was a part of.". "What that did was make me very much about following orders and instructions. "I come from a powerful, matrifocal community in Rio de Janeiro, where our cultural tradition, known as Jongo, has been well preserved," Lumumba says. There was the highly publicised debacle on The Project, after which Lumumba claimed the program's presenters had colluded with Collingwood. In 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard recognised Lumumba as one of the People of Australia ambassadors. Today, he uses a one-word description of himself: African. In documents filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Mr Lumumba alleged the league and his former club had failed in their duty of care to provide players with a safe environment. And the media has gone on being receptive. The ABC sought responses from Collingwood president Eddie McGuire and coach Nathan Buckley to a series of questions related to Lumumba's experiences at the club. Lumumba's cultural origins start within a Quilombo community called Jongo Bassan da Serrinha, situated in Madureira, Rio's North zone. Deflect attention away from the underlying problem by evoking the 'crazy black' stereotype.". As a result, he had suffered "trauma, humiliation, distress, and loss of enjoyment" among other things, he said. 00:56 BST 08 Feb 2021. 902. This needs to be urgently addressed within the AFL industry.". "His name is Yala," Lumumba says. But not only was no action taken, Lumumba was told that if he felt so passionately about it, he should address it with the players himself. Former Collingwood star Hritier Lumumba now lives in South Los Angeles, where he's surrounded by black culture and thought. Former AFL player Heritier Lumumba has shared further recordings of himself in conversation with former coach Nathan Buckley. Perhaps you imagine the years 2030, 2040 and 2050, when 21 old footballers a little greyer, perhaps a little wider will dust off their AFL premiership medals and reunite, reminding themselves of the things they did and didn't do in the name of the Collingwood Football Club. 84. In December 2013, Lumumba didn't change his name, he corrected it. By day eight of the saga, Lumumba was weighed down by the club's betrayals and the media's relentless character assassinations. Yet Lumumba's experiences have been corroborated by six of his teammates. Theres always next week. The Sunday Age article announcing his arrival began: "Harry O'Brien could have been playing soccer for Brazil. Grant pressed a copy of Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America into Lumumba's hands and later wrote in The Age: "The highly paid image-makers project the AFL as a broad, enlightened church, free of the bigotry of the past. Collingwood and the AFL are yet to respond to the lawsuit. "5/ This was Buckley's attitude in 2014 when I simply asked for people's basic human & workplace rights to be protected. We pat ourselves on the back when we call out online abuse, or when spectators who throw bananas are ejected. To @iamlumumba I am truly, unequivocally sorry. At first, the thing he enjoyed most about living in Collingwood was looking up at the Fitzroy commission flats he'd lived in as a young refugee. Read about our approach to external linking. But when Lumumba went there, you could sense the room raising a collective eyebrow. Former Collingwood player Hritier Lumumba used to be known as Harry O'Brien. Lumumba had been among his harshest critics; on live television, he had schooled McGuire in the basics of racism. In December 2013, the man in Collingwood's number eight guernsey quietly appraised a year of unprecedented turmoil, steeling himself to stride over a symbolic threshold. In rooms full of white footballers, white coaches and white journalists, who stared blankly or snickered when Lumumba held up a mirror to prejudices long accepted as part and parcel of the hairy-chested AFL culture prejudices he says were ingrained at Collingwood. What stock should be placed in the moralising of men whose idea of fun was to call their colleagues poofters, homos, slaves and chimps?
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