World needs to wage similar war on racism
The chorus against the Russian invasion of Ukraine has reverberated around the world like a crescendo. So loud were the voices calling for action that only those who bury their heads in the sand would not have heard the cries.
It left me wondering how things in the world of sports might turn out if the same attitude was adopted there. The shrug of the shoulders reaction in dealing with racism in sport is well documented.
Racism continues to be the source of bread and butter in most societies across the world. Even us in a former British colony have been caught in its cruel cobwebs. We are citizens of a country in which racism was and still is the bread and butter of all facets of our lives. Sport has not been spared.
To date, we are plodding on a hit-andmiss path of transformation in an attempt to level the playing field. As things stand, the Cricket South Africa-sanctioned Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) project is dealing with allegations of racism levelled by black players against former Proteas captain Graeme Smith and current coach Mark Boucher during their playing days. Not long ago West Indies legend Michael
Holding broke down during an emotional discussion detailing his experiences of racism in cricket while questioning those refusing to take the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign. “It is society that needs fixing,” he said, calling out companies in the UK for not doing enough to tackle racism.
“Until I see that on a regular basis and progress being made, if I were a sportsman right now, I would be bruising my knee until I go into my grave.” Selective outrage on issues of injustice must be treated as the anomaly it is. Nitpicking does little for the cause of common humanity.
We have seen supporters in eastern European countries happily mock black footballers with monkey sounds and throw bananas at them. England players Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham were booed and racially abused for taking the knee in Budapest in their 4-0 World Cup qualifier win against Hungary last September.
It is not an exclusively eastern phenomenon. Back in England supporters blamed their loss of the Euro 2022 on Marcus Rashford, Jordan Sancho and Sterling, who missed their kicks in the penalty shootout defeat to Italy.
Romelo Lukaku has spoken about the joy of being Belgian when the national team wins a match and the pain of being dubbed an immigrant when they lose.
Lillian Thuram, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winner with France, last year called on white players to lend a hand in eradicating racism. Through his foundation he has embarked on a mission to educate.
When his book, White Thinking: Behind the Mask of Racial Identity, was launched last year, the retired footballer told The Guardian it was important “to prod people, particularly white people, into thinking more deeply about societal structures and race”. It is a case of “who knows it, feels it” for Thuram, a collector of major crowns with Juventus and Parma in Italy, Barcelona in Spain and Monaco in France, who was at the receiving end of racist jibes in all those lands. Some supporters see stadiums as arenas where they can spew racist bile with gay abandon.
AC Milan players walked off the pitch in solidarity with their teammate Kevin Prince Boateng when fans of the four-tier outfit Pro Patria hurled incessant racial invectives at him. Choking from racist chants, FC Porto’s Moussa Marega celebrated a goal in an encounter against Vitoria SC last year by affirming his blackness, pointing to the colour of his skin. His tormentors reacted with even louder monkey grunts and threw chairs onto the field. When Marenga wanted to leave, his teammates, all white, restrained him, an act Thuram ranks as hypocrisy.
“Very often players who are targets of racism are asked: ‘What should we do about it?’ That is very hypocritical because it suggests it is up to them to find solutions as if they are the problem. It is up to white players, who are usually in the majority, to refuse to play on. Then the powers-that-be will be forced to take action. Because otherwise their business will suffer.”
Those condemning the war as an injustice against fellow humans must muster the same vigour against racism, not simply pay lip service to it.