In SVT Sport's program series Blue Yellow Heroes, where national team athletes from different sports talk about racism they have been exposed to, the basketball national team's Kalis Loyd said that she feels that there is structural racism in Swedish basketball.
The Swedish Basketball Association agreed but also pointed out that change work is underway.
Part of that work is former national team player Danielle Hamilton-Carter, who has taken a seat on the association's nomination committee and who also leads the podcast Roundtable talks.
- I absolutely believe that I have a role in the change work.
Everyone who is a part of Swedish basketball and who does not look traditionally Swedish has it and makes their voices heard.
Just to exist in these rooms where you are not traditionally seen or represented is extremely important, she tells SVT Sport.
The representation needs to be reviewed
Hamilton-Carter, who still plays professional basketball in Slovakia, was elected to the nomination committee almost a year ago.
She feels that Swedish basketball has come a long way in the work against racism and that awareness of the problems has increased.
On the other hand, she thinks that the representation in leading positions needs to be reviewed and believes that this is a key in the work against structural racism.
- It is important that it is not only the practitioners who are culturally rich, but it must also be reflected in boardrooms and among leaders.
And there I absolutely believe that there is a gap.
What do all the boardrooms look like in all districts and in all chancelleries ?, she says and continues:
- I think there is a great awareness of norms in Swedish basketball, but how do you go from talking to real action?
Want the issue to be driven by everyone
She believes that the biggest challenge is people's willingness to examine themselves.
- Change work is very inconvenient.
It is difficult to examine myself and perhaps review how I have contributed to keeping these structures alive.
But no matter how inconvenient it is, you have to think about those who have been exposed.
In the long run, she hopes to be involved and contribute to the issue of racism being driven by everyone, regardless of background.
- It requires everyone's commitment and I think the commitment in Swedish basketball is enormous.
But I want it to be broadened, because it is not my job as a black person to educate others to be anti-racist.
It is a collective work.
I want to get to that.
CLIP: Hear Kalis Loyd talk about the structural racism she experiences in Swedish basketball (May 6, 2021)
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Kalis Loyd feels that there is structural racism in Swedish basketball and that it affects team selections.
In the picture, Loyd is interviewed in Blue and Yellow Heroes (left) and can also be seen in the national team uniform (right).
Photo: SVT / Bildbyrån
KLIPP: Förbundet: Skin color no factor in national team selections (6 May 2021)
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Fredrik Joulamo, general secretary of the Swedish Basketball Association, does not agree with player Kalis Loyd that skin color affects team selections in the national team.
Photo: SVT