My beef with racism in European football goes back pretty far. There’s more i’ll get into later, but for the sake of time, we can skip to February 25, 2006.
I can still remember it now. My brother and I were glued to the tv, watching what was probably our 4th match in the row that day. Don’t get me wrong, Saturday morning cartoons were the shit, but as we got older and started getting deeper into club and high school soccer, cartoon marathons turned into all-day footy watch parties. My dad, brother and I would wake up somewhere between 7-7:30am, fix a bowl of cereal, reserve a spot on the couch and get it poppin.
Growing up as both a 1st-gen Cameroonian-American and a football fan in the 90’s and 00’s meant two things:
1. Samuel Eto’o was a national treasure.
2. If you rep Eto’o you also have to rep Barcelona.
In 2006 he was JUST hitting his prime, and was considered one of, if not the best striker in the world. He was seen as a leader on that legendary Barcelona team, along with OG’s Ronaldinho, Puyol, and Xavi. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind or address cultural or political issues head on. Which was vital, cause while he won everything possible during his time at Barcelona, his 5 year stint in Spain was littered with racial abuse.
On this day they were playing Zaragoza. Ironically enough, their fans already had a history with Eto’o, having directed racist taunts at him in their previous matchup. Afterwards, they were fined 600€ — an absolute joke that did nothing to deter the crowd from doing it again. And that’s exactly what they did. They didn’t see or glorify Eto’o the same way me, my brother, dad, or uncles did. They saw him as a “monkey” or “black shit”. An outsider. A less than. Continued in the comments…
#laliga #racism #viniciusjr #etoo #problematic #tebas #realmadrid #valencia
The past couple of weeks have been so otherworldly it felt like I still didn’t have time to try and process his passing. I wanted to make something small for an artist who has given so much to the world. Whether you know him as Viktor Vaughn, Madvillain, King Geedorah, or simply MF DOOM, his example should be followed by all of us. Be who you want. How you want. At all times. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and those lucky enough to call him Daniel Dumile. #rip #restinpeace #mfdoom #madvillain #beyourself
