Crystal Palace\u2019s Wilfried Zaha\u00a0has vowed to stop taking the knee before matches as he believes the gesture has lost its meaning and is now a form of degradation.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old forward believes taking the knee to show support for racial equality since Project Restart is becoming \u2018something we just do now\u2019 and several clubs, including Brentford last weekend, have stopped making the gesture.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Thursday\u2019s Financial Times\u2019 Business of Football summit, Zaha said:<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve said before that I feel like taking the knee is degrading and stuff because growing up my parents just let me know that I should be proud to be black no matter what and I feel like we should just stand tall.<\/p>\n
‘Trying to get the meaning behind it, it\u2019s becoming something that we just do now and that\u2019s not enough for me.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m not going to take the knee, I\u2019m not going to wear Black Lives Matter on the back of my shirt because it feels like it\u2019s a target. We\u2019re trying to say that we\u2019re equal but we\u2019re isolating ourselves with these things that aren\u2019t even working anyway, so that\u2019s my stand on it.<\/p>\n
‘I feel like we should stand tall. Now I don\u2019t really tend to speak on racism and stuff like that because I\u2019m not here just to tick boxes. Unless action is going to happen, don\u2019t speak to me about it.\u2019<\/p>\n
Zaha spoke on the day Arsenal chief, Vinai Venkatesham, branded racist abuse on social media \u2018the biggest problem in football\u2019 after striker Eddie Nketiah became the latest high-profile player to be targeted.<\/p>\n
Nketiah was urged to leave Arsenal in a racist post replying to a training picture he posted on Twitter ahead of last night\u2019s clash against Benfica.<\/p>\n
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