RACISM IN FOOTBALL

By Namakando Nalikando-Sinyama

We are all too familiar with scenes of the embarrasing treatment of Black players in the Diaspora by ignorant folk who still think we are Monkeys and they even publicly express their shocking primitivity by throwing Bananas at them during matches.There are times when racial slurs are hurled at them during games when they near the touchline which sometime back even made a player,Mario Balotteli i think it was , decide to simply walk off the pitch while the referee watched on. The victims of this abuse react to the treatment in different ways and i feel they are well within their rights to express their, quite frankly,righteous indignation at that sort of backward treatment in which ever way they please. When Lingard scored a goal In the recent FA Cup match between Manchester United and Arsenal, he expressed himself or communicated a poignant message,which i thought was highly indicative of The Black Panther Salute, a radical movement that championed the fight for Civil Rights in those United States. The members of this Group,together with Jesse Owens put up a similar show of defiance during the Munich Olympic Games in Germany before a packed stadium with The Führer in attendance . This act of Courage is meant to assert a sense of Identity and Pride in their Negrescence as a People of Colour. The variation of this is what we were recently treated to in the NFL by the Afro spotting Kaepernick et al when they unanimously resolved to Take A Knee for Freedom whenever the American Anthem was sang. This is to them a song that doe not represent them as a people and has since come to embody a system that officially condones the ill-treatment,even the Cold-Blooded Murder of African Americans by uniformed Governement Law Enforcement officers. There is abuse from the fans, from fellow players of the same Club and from players of the other side and then there is racism from the officiating staff who are seen to sometimes treat players of colour rather harshly by being overly punitive with their obvious innocuous infringements by showing them cards that are not shown to other players commiting even worser tackles. 
The Fans will only appreciate and respect Black players when they have performed extremely or almost super-Humanly well. The Black Players have in turn come to realise that, in order to attain any level of recognition or respect, they woud have to work doubly as hard as other players ordinarily would.The mistakes of Black players on the pitch or anywhere else they apply their trade in their various professional lives are seen to be more heinious than those of others and thus become targets of much graver criticism which other players may not face. It must be mentioned here though that, not everyone in all football leagues are like this. The truth of the matter is that ,most fans have evolved and are civilised enough to know that We as a people of colour are actually the very first Humans on this Planet and are an embodiment of the perfect sporting specimens as such, we cannot possibly be thought of as Baboons by any intelligent Human. Quoting The Right Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan of The Nation of Islam, ' We are Actually the True Calipha of the very image of God.' Perharps, the words of one The most influencial personages of Our Age below ring true even to this day. " The Children of Africa are Citizens of various Nations in All The Continents . We need to remind them where ever they may be that, Arduous Toil,Strainous Devotion and Untiring zeal in their Glorious Cause is Expected of Them." H.I.M( His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Sellasie I,Selah.