I wonder how the daily grind unfolds for some people… “Did you get some bananas?” “Yes, I got you bananas. Why are you eating so many bananas?” “I’m not. We throw them at the Black soccer players during the match. It’s fun.”
I think it’s safe to say that there are of a lot of people of color who go to soccer matches in certain European cities. Probably they wouldn’t feel real comfortable sitting in a crowd where people are throwing bananas at the Black athletes.
For the first time ever, elite White soccer players are being brought up on charges for using racist taunts against their Black counterparts. So Black soccer players are getting assaulted on two fronts, words on the field and bananas from the stands.
Do some people really believe that their purpose in life is to be racist, that they were born to behave in a racist manner? What or who is their higher power — hatred?
No, of course not. Their higher power is fear.
These brave banana-throwers are now showing up in Canada. If you think a man is making “progress” because he beats his wife once a week instead of seven, then you must believe we are making progress in regards to race relations.
Throwing bananas at Blacks instead of hanging them from trees is not progress. You could say that it’s just a few bad apples at fault, but it speaks volumes about our society as a whole that the London, Ontario police said, “There was not enough evidence to charge the hockey fan who threw a banana at [pro hockey player Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers] with a hate crime.” (USA Today, 1/10/12)
What is going on in Ontario? Are they still stuck in the 1950s when it comes to the treatment of Blacks?
I would like to hear what the Ontario police thought the act was if not a hate crime. Did the fan believed Wayne Simmonds might want to snack on some tropical fruit while playing hockey? How is this not a hate crime?
The police need to act on this based on Simmonds being a human being, because that is what he is, but you can hardly tell that by the way they are handling it. No human being should have to be subjected to such a disgusting act — and then see the perpetrator walk away with only a $200 fine.
Frank Erickson lives in Minneapolis.
Trying my best.29
Editorial
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