Through the prism of sport and conversations with its legends, including Usain Bolt, Adam Goodes, Thierry Henry, Michael Johnson, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Makhaya Ntini, Naomi Osaka and Hope Powell, Michael Holding explains how racism dehumanises people; how it works to achieve that end; how it has been ignored by history and historians; and what it is like to be treated differently just because of the colour of your skin. The book takes readers throughout history to understand racism and explains what it is like to be treated differently just because of the colour of your skin. Holding’s message is ultimately one of hope and he delivers an inspiring message for the future and a vision for change. Every time he uses the word dehumanisation, one will involuntarily clench a fist – I bet images of Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympics come to mind - and every time he writes that all we want is equality we will swallow a lump. Make no mistake, it makes harrowing reading. Universal appeal If you’d like to receive a free copy of the book you can write to us at: National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF.

Among them were the tennis player Naomi Osaka and the footballer Thierry Henry. “Mikey, you can’t stop. You have to continue,” he says they told him. As for criticism, perhaps the only detraction would that the overall argument here is not novel. Holding recounts historical stories and contemporary actions which will be well known to any reader with a decent academic knowledge around institutionalised racism. But it is a point that needs to be made, again and again, that white supremacist ideology has permeated our society to such an extent that these stories and actions have got to be kept at the forefront of our consciousness. Holding argues himself, that the minute we being to become self-congratulatory or complacent around racism, is when it becomes an even more threatening problem. Moreover, Holding does make unique and detailed points that are specific to his own character, that elevates this into a phenomenal book. I am proud and honoured to receive the iconic William Hill award, and I hope this will help us spread the message of ‘say no to racism’ and importance of learning more about this important topic.”

Holding’s book described by the judging panel as ‘one of the most important sports books you will ever read’ – looks into the root cause of racism and the terrible toll it takes on people, communities and the world.

But when people began to understand apartheid through a sporting perspective, it's my belief that it helped to really pressurise the powers that be to do something. Remember that the next time you hear someone say that taking a knee is virtue signalling or 'woke'. Give me a break. It raises awareness, it keeps the conversation going and reminds people that things have got to change. ARRAffinity cookie is set by Azure app service, and allows the service to choose the right instance established by a user to deliver subsequent requests made by that user.

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Inside Time reserve the right to republish comments in its newspaper or in any of its other publications, however, in these cases, comments will be anonymised. Why We Kneel, How We Rise is a powerful, poignant and personal exploration of racism - with a message of hope for real change. Alyson Rudd, Chair of Judges, said: “Given everything that has happened in the world over the last 18 months, I am proud the standard of the entries was as strong as ever. Michael’s book was very well written, and brilliantly and evocatively highlights the importance of education in defeating one of society’s biggest issues.”

With contributions from Usain Bolt, Adam Goodes, Jeff Harriott, Thierry Henry, Michael Johnson, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Makhaya Ntini, Naomi Osaka, Hope Powell This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Having watched Mark Austin’s emotional interview with Michael Holding on SkyNews I was keen to read Why we Kneel, Now we Rise. Yet, Holding hopes that racism will vanish: “One day, people of colour might have equality.” Later, he says: “I will be long gone by the time we have a genuine level playing field.” He is being practical but this conscience-stirrer of a book will defy time. This book is a classic, one that will make you aware that inequality is a horrific reality and it is time to change that.Holding beat five other shortlisted authors for the 33rd annual William Hill Sports Book of the Year, the world’s oldest and richest sports literary prize and not a single finalist on the list had won the award before.

A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.I am proud and honoured to receive the iconic William Hill Sport Book of the Year award, and I hope this will help us spread the message of ‘say no to racism’ and importance of learning more about this important topic.” If we are not familiar with the facts Mikey describes, it will make us angry, it will make our blood boil, we'll find them unbelievable, it will break our hearts, it will make us cry. All these happened to me. I knew some of the facts, but it was unbelievable that some of these bad things, pure evil things, were happening well into the 20th century. There were two chapters called 'Dehumanisation' and 'History Lesson' which were very hard to read, because what they described was heartbreaking. It was unbelievable to read about some of the things, that scientists and philosophers that we admire from previous centuries, had said.