Unless your overwhelming position is unqualified support for, and outrage on behalf of, Vinicius Junior after what happened to him in Valencia on Sunday, then you are part of the problem. From when he arrived at Mestalla to when he left to board Real Madrid‘s team bus, he was, once again, subjected to brutal, criminal levels of outright racism.
If there’s any kind of “but” forming in your mind, you’re simply wrong. Nothing Vinicius did in Valencia — and nothing he’s ever done on or off a football pitch — either explains or contextualises aggressive fans insulting him because of the colour of his skin. Nothing. (Real Madrid’s decision to file a hate crime complaint also confirms the seriousness of how Vinicius was treated.)
I’ve written about racism so often in my career. For ESPN, I covered the racist treatment Vinicius is receiving in Spain as recently as February. I’m not aware of how many people read the article, but I am aware that nearly a million people read the tweet with which I shared that column. I’m glad of that.
This is now a topic of worldwide attention. It remains an abuse of human rights and of human dignity that — and I can speak only for myself here — reduces me to a rage on behalf of Vinicius and all those who suffer racism. It’s a topic that can induce tears of impotent fury. Please: take just a few seconds to think of what this crime makes the men, women and children who suffer daily, casual and deliberate racism — at work, on the street, at play, in public or in private — feel like?
I confess that one’s first instinct is to channel the fury into words. To try to use articulacy, the public platforms I’m fortunate to enjoy, and this level of anger in order to catalyse awareness, more widespread support and, heaven help us, some successful action to begin to eradicate the idea that racism is just something we must tolerate in this space. LaLiga president Javier Tebas was quick to try and downplay Vinicius’ angry reaction, stating that the player was being unfair in his social media postsand that “cases of racism are an extremely rare occurrence.” As far as I’m concerned, this is a time for a more forensic, more clinical approach, not just anger or claim/counter-claim.
