Just got an interesting e-mail from a
reader:
Yesterday the national soccer teams of England and Spain met in Madrid.
England has several black players. Throughout the match the Spanish fans in,
full voice and in vast numbers, made monkey noises every time a black player
on the English team touched the ball. To those not familiar with European
soccer this is a shock but the conduct is quite common in many cities in
Europe during matches. It is so common that the European Football
Association has a campaign in place to try and stop the practice. If you
take a look at today’s Guardian it has
several accounts of the racist conduct during the match.
How tiresome is it to hear the constant refrain that the Euros are so
much more enlightened than us Americans on issue such as race etc.? In
practice we know the truth is far different. Can you imagine the conduct I
described above taking place at an American sporting event? Can you imagine
the mentality of thousands of people in a European capital city that they
felt so free to express their racism so overtly? Next time you hear a Euro
begin a lecture hit him or her (figuratively, of course) with the facts
surrounding racist behavior of Euros on any given Sat. or Sun. in their
capital cities. The “red state rubes” they love to malign would never
tolerate the racism that is a common part of their national pastimes.