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1. July 2006 New Demographic Newsletter at New Demographic - an anti-racism training company on 01 Sep 2006 at 1:48 pm

   […] Several stories last month served as somber reminders that people are still judged by their perceived race. The World Cup was marred by the racism soccer players of African descent experienced. A new study of email behavior showed that people assume Asians have no social skills. Another study demonstrated that people believe black Katrina victims are less worthy of aid than white victims. […]

Comments

1. Charlette wrote:

   Im confused. Are you saying that in the United States we do not use racial slurs at sports events and in Europe they do? WHo is in the stands? American tourists visiting to watch the World cup did you say? Oh!

   Posted 13 Jun 2006 at 6:22 pm ¶

2. Merq wrote:

   Oh, come on, Charlette!
   That’s got to be one of the saddest cop-outs I’ve ever heard! I can understand a preoccupation with one’s own sufferings, but to pretend America is the only racist nation in the world is absolute bunk.

   I know… whenever there’s a hate crime committed in any European country, the authorities need only seek out any Americans present at the time.

   weak.

   Posted 13 Jun 2006 at 7:04 pm ¶

3. Lyonside wrote:

   Racism is global, and intense sports events seem to bring out the lowest common denominator in many fans.

   Europe is not necessarily a bastion of inclusion, and what may not be permitted by the goverment may be tolerated on the streets.

   And while the examples in the article are pretty blatent, racism and bias can be just as subtle as here in the US. My husband is on vacation this week and is watching a lot of the world cup. He noticed that when Argentina was playing Ivory Coast, the Argentinian announcers (in spanish) were always saying Africanos and negros in reference to the Ivory Coast team, while saying Argentina, but not South America or Latinos or whatever for Argentina’s team. It happened often enough that he picked up on it - it was habitual on the parts of the announcers, not a one-time throwaway phrase. Were there no Argentinians w/ African descent on the team? Does the Ivory Coast team represent the ENTIRE CONTINENT of Africa?

   We both wondered what that said about the Argentinians (or at least these announcers, regardless of home country) and their opinions/POV towards the African nations in the World Cup.

   Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 9:37 am ¶

4. dcase wrote:

   Thanks Merq for making that point. I always have to chuckle at the optimistic viewpoint people from the US have of the race relations elsewhere and low opinion of the US. Americans have bought into the racial paradise ideas about European countries and other places like Brazil. For example, I’m currently in grad school, in a program that is majority foreign ( primarily asian,european, and south american; there are no other people of african descent) and i always get comments from people I know how lucky I am to be working with foreigners because they are not as racist as white americans. Yeah, right.

   They are always shocked when I tell them about the racist things about blacks and others that are often said directly to me by my foreign colleagues. My foreign colleagues have not developed the self-censorship that Americans have. The other day while watching Italy and Ghana, I overheard one of my colleagues call one of the players for Ghana a “black monkey,”-I was speechless- and when one of my white american colleagues corrected him and pointed at me, he said that I was mulatto and he wasn’t talking about me. Of course, I left after that (he later sent me an email stating that he was sorry to say that in front of me, he doesn’t think of me as black, huh?). Most commentary is not as explicit as that incident but it gets tiring sometimes calling them on their stereotypical views. And these are well educated,doctoral candidates; it is not surprising what how the typical resident feels.

   Nevertheless, I think that many Americans tend to think the US is or has been “worse” than other countries because we have a legacy of racism codified in law whereas most of these other countries have not. Interracial relationships and marriages were allowed to exist in open and there was no explicit separation of the races. Since we still live with the effects of this legacy it must not be as bad elsewhere who did not have this. Incidentally, the dismantling of the racist law is also why most Americans feel like racism is not really important in US anymore. Regardless, comparing racism across countries is a useless exercise; it exists , and one must be as aware of it in other places as they are here.

   Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 11:27 am ¶

5. Kaonashi wrote:

   NPR did a broadcast on this. I know that soccer tends to bring out the lowest common demoninator at time, but it’s really disgusting what these players have to put up with.

   Posted 15 Jun 2006 at 7:50 pm ¶

6. jlnli wrote:

   Not really racism, but totally showing a warped perception of world history and ethnicity around the world - but I’ve heard a couple of people (just in public) be surprised at the racial make-up of the Angolan team - like they’re not surprised that there are multi-racial teams from Europe and the Americas, but from Africa is a surprise?

   Posted 16 Jun 2006 at 3:13 pm ¶

7. Adrianna wrote:

   I think that most Argentineas think themselves has the Europeans that got stuck in the wrong continent. Their accent is close to the spanish accent, and they are fairer than most Latin American. Thank goodness Thierry Henry is standing up to racism. I love soccer and pisses me off when i hear the things that black players have to put up with from people who supports their own club.

   Posted 20 Jun 2006 at 3:03 am ¶

8. Bohwe wrote:

   I agree that for some reason, some people feel that they can say anything in front of some people of color, because we are labled as “acceptable”. I think it’s insulting, because if people don’t like a group as a whole, if they considered you acceptable , that’s just means they only tolerate you, and feel that you aren’t a threat. How sad. I feel that if anyone has a problem with one group, most likely they have issues with everyone else, and sometimes even their own.

   Posted 20 Jun 2006 at 3:40 am ¶

9. Carlos wrote:

   Regarding Lyonside’s comments: I agree that racism is ugly and unnecessary. There is no room for it in the world, much less on the soccer field.

   Having said that, anyone who is familiar with Argentinean history knows that although in its colonial period, there were Africans in Argentina, many were sent to fight in the war against Paraguay and many others left for Brazil. Argentina’s economy was different compared to other Latin American countries, and as such, the African slaves were not in high number. Most Argentineans are descendants of Europeans (primarily Italians and Spaniards, but also from practically every other country in Europe) who went to Argentina when it was an economic power (early 20th century) after both world wars. On another note, unfortunately, the history of indiginous peoples in Argentina were killed by the Argentine military during the “Conquista del Desierto” (”Conquest of the Desert”) during the late 19th century. Having lived in Argentina, there are virtually no Argentines of African descent. Most black people in Argentina are foreigners (i.e., diplomats and family members).

   Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 3:07 pm ¶

10. jamaal wrote:

    plz stop bagging this white trashes they all mad cause we are beautiful than their are that is it. that is the problem they have with us. so sad cause allah gave us this look. and italain people they are all ignorant. I thing they need to educte them selves. white have another problem with black people and that is balck palyers are much better than other players
    balck is beautifull.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 3:09 am ¶

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