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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Jonah Beleckis

Column: Maintain the momentum from racism dialogue

America is buzzing about Donald Sterling and racism.

However, recent events have thrust the racism discussion beyond Los Angeles and beyond the bounds of our 50 states.

Sunday, Barcelona's Dani Alves was set to take a corner kick when a Villarreal fan threw a banana on to the field. Alves picked up the banana, took a bite and went on to take the corner.

Alves should be recognized for his composure for responding in such a way to that offensive and real of an issue, but his brilliance comes from the plan behind it all.

He and Barcelona teammate Neymar knew if the event occurred again, with a plan in place they could make a global statement, and that they did.

"We have suffered this in Spain some time," Alves said after the game. "You have to take it with a dose of humor. We aren't going to change things easily. If you don't give it importance, they don't achieve their objective."

According to the Spanish paper AS, after Alves and Neymar had been racially abused in Spain about a month ago, marketing firms were brought in to organize a campaign against the topic that has plagued Europe.

A social media campaign sprung quickly after the event took place. The likes of current stars Neymar, Sergio Agüero, Luis Suarez and Mario Balotelli joined former stars like Fabio Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos and many others in tweeting pictures of themselves eating bananas. #WeAreAllMonkeys spread around the world.

While previous cases like this have gone unpunished, authorities acted swiftly and strongly in what will be a telling sign if they continue to give racial crimes the attention they call for.

The individual who threw the banana on the field was identified, arrested and promptly banned for life from the stadium.

It is terrible that it takes an event like this to gravitate everyone's attention to an issue that has been glaring for many years. However, it was brilliant to take an event like this—that they knew would, unfortunately, happen soon enough—and market it to the world.

But the conversation should not stop there. The discussion should not die down after Donald Sterling leaves the league and when Barcelona's season ends just to come ablaze the next time someone makes bigoted comments or commits a hateful act.

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Take the momentum created by these past events and continue the conversation. Ignoring the rampant racism that still exists only fuels the problem.

The resolution starts with a conversation. If the general population does not know that racism exists in the fashion it does today, no change will come.

Spread the word and help put an end to racism in sports and in the entire world.

We are all monkeys.

Is this campaign the proper way to address racism in soccer and in the world? Email Jonah at jonah.beleckis@dailycardinal.com and join in the discussion of how to end racism.

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