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Silence is the greater
sin
Lilian
Thuram, member of France’s World Cup-winning national football team |
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The first time I came
up against racism was in France. I was nine years old, and blacks were given nicknames
in my school. Was this racism? Coming from children, it might just seem like foolishness,
but still it affected me. I’d come from Guadeloupe, where many communities live together,
and I’d never felt any discrimination there.
Racism isn’t natural. It’s thought out, and generated by adults who establish differences
on the basis of skin colour and culture. To do away with it, schools have a critical
role to play. Children still learn about “human races,” whereas there is in fact
only one race. It would be more accurate to speak about different communities.
The history of peoples is very badly taught: each country grabs hold of it to justify
their past behaviour. Likewise, I’ve always been shocked that blacks only appear
in the history books from the time of slavery. Their life before this dramatic page
of history is never revealed, as if they had always been slaves! Their true past
and culture are all too often scorned, creating a historical void and pulling a veil
down over the memory of these peoples.
If we want to have the slightest hope of eradicating racism, we have to commit ourselves
to the task of memory. Certain nations must recognize the wrongs they have done,
especially with regard to slavery, which I believe is one of the sources of racism.
The truth must be written, not in a spirit of vengeance, but as a way to set us on
the path toward genuine reconciliation.
The battle is far from won. When I arrived in Italy in 1996, I didn’t notice any
signs of racism or xenophobia. Then the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse.
Why this rejection of the other? Why this aggression? These questions remain unanswered.
I lived through a painful experience during a match in Parma, my club at the time.
Some fans started chanting a song about two black players: “Ba eats bananas in Weah’s
hut.” At the end of the match, I raised the incident with other members of the club.
I felt their indifference, and could not accept it. Keeping silent is the worst attitude
to take. The fight against racism is also a fight against silence.
I meet regularly with Italian school kids and try to drive home the importance of
communities mixing with one another–a source of vital cultural enrichment. I’m convinced
that these youngsters would not throw their weight behind the kind of racist antics
that are given free rein in football stadiums.
It’s not enough to talk about the good things being done. You have to face what is
bad, and use it to consider what is wrong. Evil must be fought on the spot so that
it does not lead to intolerable problems. Football, for example, is a very powerful
social force: we have to work towards eliminating all forms of racism in stadiums
and stop people from using this sport as a platform for their unacceptable opinions.
I am disappointed that racism is still alive and kicking. It’s been around for centuries.
We’re always being told that we live in a wonderful world that has brought people
closer together thanks to new technologies. But reality is harsh: we have not made
much progress in spiritual terms. The right to be different, even from one’s neighbour,
does not exist. Globalization, as I see it, means respecting the other, respecting
a person’s differences, because each and everyone of us carries a different history
inside. |
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