While
we live in an era where slavery and segregation are outlawed, racism continues
to be a significant issue. Many choose
to ignore or downplay racism that African Americans endure in today’s society,
but these problems can only be solved when people find the courage to take
action against these intolerable acts.
Sully Muntari is a professional football (soccer) player born in Ghana who
played for Pescara (a professional Italian football club) in 2017.1 During one of their games, the crowd started chanting racist insults towards
Muntari, but he especially noticed a child and his parent yelling these
profanities in the stands. In response,
Muntari walked over and tried to give the child his shirt “to teach him that
you’re not supposed to do things like that” and “to set an example so he grows
up to be nice.”2 The referee interfered, and Muntari attempted
to explain what had transpired; Muntari asked the referee if he would stop the
game to address the racist chanting. The
referee refused and gave Muntari a yellow card for disagreeing with him. In response, Muntari walked off the field
leaving his team with ten players to finish the game. Later, the Pescara coach stated that while he
had sympathy for Muntari, “we should not take justice into our own hands” and
“We have been talking about racism for years now but nothing happens. Today, this has happened to Muntari who had
been playing in Italy for several years now.
We need a change of mentality.”2
I
was quite impressed by Muntari’s ability to not respond to the racist insults
with bitterness and violence, but instead with love and kindness. He then took action via nonviolent protest by
leaving the game; this did cause tension, but more importantly it brought the
racist issues to the spotlight. I was
disappointed in both the referee and coach on how they handled the
situation. Neither were willing to take
action to support Muntari, and both acted in line of white moderates. The referee acted to restore order and
comfort to the game instead of justice for Muntari; soccer is an incredible
sport, but sometimes there are more important issues that must be dealt with. I was surprised the coach did not support
Muntari, and when he stated, “we should not take justice into our own hands.”2
I strongly disagree with the coach as there will be no justice and change
unless people like Muntari actively fight racism; simply accepting racism
should never be an option. Now is the
time to take action.
1 UpClosed, “About
Sulley Muntari //Association football player- Ghana,” UpClosed, Accessed
February 26, 2018, https://upclosed.com/people/sulley-muntari/.
2 “Pescara’s Sulley Muntari walks
off after being booked for reporting race abuse,” The Guardian, Acessed
February 26, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/01/sulley-muntari-walks-off-racist-abuse-pescara.
I think that this story, as well as how Muntari handled this situation, most closely aligns with the ideologies and philosophies that Dr. King was passionate about. I feel like many times we think of Dr. King as a figure that no one could possibly live up to. I think you make a great point when talking about how Muntari handled the circumstances. A lot of time hate is matched with more hate, so it is always a shocking matter when hatred is met with love. When hatred is met with love, it is hard for the antagonist to continue to antagonize the situation. This is exactly what Dr. King wanted people to understand. When individuals use a hate language, they expect for hate or an uprise to be thrown back in their direction, so when this did not take place; everyone involved had to personally think about why the individual did not react in the way they personally wanted. While this is not an ideal situation at all, Dr. King would be encouraged that almost fifty years later, people are using his reputation as a light in such a dark world.
ReplyDeleteThe parallels in this story and some of the things that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" are too similar for comfort. It saddens me to see that there are still people who think that they should have no part in fighting for justice or that they need a change in mentality, when it is the oppressor who needs a change in mentality. Like you, I am impressed with how Muntari handled the situation, especially since he has gone through things like this many times. It is people like him who will have a positive impact on people and society and change the world into a better place someday.
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