It is impossible to completely wipe off racism from the world, feels fast bowling great Michael Holding, who would “bruise his knee” to the grave if he was still an active player but doesn’t want anyone to take the gesture as “a tick-in-the-box exercise”.

Holding was speaking on Sky Sports’ ‘The Cricket Show’ on the first death anniversary of African-American George Floyd, who died at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota (US) last year.

“You will always have racism, always have racists. Getting rid of racism totally is like saying you are going to get rid of crime totally. It is impossible,” Holding said during a panel discussion that also had former England captain Nasser Hussain .

“The less crime you have in your society, the less racism you have in your society, the better off the world is as we go ahead,” he added.

Holding doesn’t believe in telling people what their choices should be.

“I am not going to tell people they must take a knee… I am not here to tell people what they need to do. I don’t want people to take it as a tick-in-the-box exercise.”