Aufgabe HT 3 - Aufgabe 3.1 · Abitur NRW Englisch GK · Haupttermin · Weiterbildungskolleg 2021

Klausurteil A

Michael Eboda

Lewis Hamilton: ‘Watching George Floyd brought up so much suppressed emotion’

Lewis Hamilton, a British Formula One driver, claimed his seventh world championship title in 2020.

At the end of 2019, Lewis Hamilton had a realisation about Formula One. “I was looking at

pictures of all the teams – they do these team photos in front of the garage or on the track –

and they’ve posted all these pictures and I’m like, there are no people of colour in any of

these teams.”

5 Hamilton says he had always thought that his presence and his incredible success would

“spark change”. Somewhat naively, he now acknowledges he thought his career as the world’s

most successful racing driver – along with the presence of his dad, Anthony, and his racing

driver brother, Nicolas – would be enough to “open up doorways” for others. The realisation

that after all these years it wasn’t happening led him to rethink.

10 And as he was working things out, the world was slapped in the face by an example of sickening

racial hatred. On 25 May, the 46-year-old African American father-of-five George Floyd was

killed by Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis cop, who, as he was making an arrest, kneeled

on Floyd’s neck and choked the life out of him.

The 35-year-old remains traumatised by what he saw on the viral video of Floyd’s death that

15 circulated soon afterwards. You can hear it in his voice: “Watching George for that eight

minutes and 30 seconds, as for so many people, brought up so much emotion that I didn’t

even realise that I had clogged up and suppressed over that time.”

It also crystallised in his mind what he needed to do.

“Competing and winning championships is a great thing, but what does it really mean? It

20 doesn’t mean anything unless you can help push for change. I cannot keep silent during this

time. I decided that I have to use this platform. There are so many people out there who are

struggling and so many who have experienced what I have experienced, and worse,” he says,

in reference to the racism he was forced to endure both as a youngster and since he has been

a professional driver.

25 Hamilton is Formula One’s most successful driver […].

He has also just been voted No 1 in this year’s Powerlist, which showcases the country’s

most influential people of African, African Caribbean or African American heritage and is

sent to institutions such as schools and colleges so that children, especially black children,

can see what can be achieved with dedication and perseverance. Hamilton is the first sports

30 star to take top billing in the list’s 14-year history. He says the award is a “monumental

moment”. “Growing up in Stevenage, there’s quite a small black community there … to be

acknowledged within the black community … I’m just so proud.” The seven-strong panel

unanimously voted him No 1, not only for his amazing sporting career, but because of his

commitment to change.

35 His stance is symbolic of the way some of today’s black sports stars are using their celebrity

[…].

“It’s not enough to be not racist,” Hamilton says. “You have to be anti-racist. You have to

be against racism and supporting these movements.” The similarities with other stars such

as Raheem Sterling and LeBron James are obvious: like Hamilton, both are at the very top

40 of their game but are more than willing to speak out, whatever the risks.

But what distinguishes Hamilton is that in Sterling and James’s sports they do not stand alone.

There are a large number of high-profile competitors who support them – both black and

white. It is a point that has not been lost on Hamilton: “Look at the NBA, who have been

amazing. I was so, so surprised and impressed with what people have been doing … what

45 the football organisations have done.” Yet he himself hasn’t enjoyed the luxury of such

company.

Formula One racing began in 1950. In the intervening years some 750 young men have

taken to the track. Hamilton is still the only one of African Caribbean heritage.

Since Hamilton made the decision to start using his platform for more than showering the

50 second- and third-placed drivers with champagne, he has been a whirlwind. He has encouraged

competitors to back him by taking a knee before each race; convinced his team, Mercedes, to

change its cars’ livery from silver to black; and set up a commission to make the sport more

diverse at all levels of employment – all the while showcasing the Black Lives Matter cause

with a T-shirt and matching BLM facemask.

55 Speaking out on anything considered controversial when you are a figure of Hamilton’s

standing is not easy, he admits. “I’m in a white-dominated sport and, as you know, you have

to be very, very careful with how you approach it, what you say, because people will turn

your words against you most of the time.”

Annotations:

39 · Raheem Sterling – Jamaican-born British professional footballer

39 · LeBron James – African American professional basketball player

43 · NBA (National Basketball Association) – US-American men’s professional basketball league

43 – 45 · “Look at the NBA, … what the football organisations have done” – both in the USA and in Great Britain, professional sports leagues have openly shown solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement

51 · to take a knee – to go down on one knee as a symbolic gesture against racial injustice

52 · “change its cars’ livery from silver to black” – since 1954, Mercedes’ Formula One racing cars have always had a silver livery, which gained the team the nickname ‘The Silver Arrows’; in 2020, they changed the colour to black as a statement against racism

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

3. Choose one of the following tasks:

3.1 In a 2018 survey, a vast majority of the respondents agreed that "social media makes people believe they’re making a difference when they really aren’t." Discuss this result in view of how far social media can contribute to social or political change and what part celebrities such as Lewis Hamilton can play in this. (Evaluation: comment) [14 Punkte]