Pierre Achille Webo and Demba Bamba are not the first athletes to speak out against racism. But the interruption on Tuesday evening of the Champions League match between PSG and Istanbul’s Basaksehir will go down in history. For the first time in one of the most watched and commented on competitions in the world, the match did not come to an end after the denunciation of racist acts from a delegated referee.
If the world press believes that this is a turning point, the attitude of the two players of the Turkish club has marked the spirits and is part of a long history where sport and activism have often gone hand in hand for s ‘tackle this scourge. Many of the examples that follow come from the United States, a country of sport-king and a nation very divided on the question of civil rights.
1936: Jesse Owens snub
A legend was born in this month of August 1936. Under the eyes of the Chancellor of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who fully intended to use the Berlin Olympics to establish his theory of the superiority of the Aryan race, Jesse Owens, a young 22-year-old black American athlete has four Olympic titles. Humiliated, the Führer leaves the Olympic stadium. “Nothing can stop me, assures the champion, who died at 66 in 1980. Not the color, not the money, not even the hatred. “
1940: the revolt of the seven NYU students
The story goes back to November 1940. During an American football game, the University of Missouri asked its New York counterpart not to play Leonard Bates, because of his skin color. New York University accepts seven students, but not. The latter were excluded in 1941 before being rehabilitated 60 years later.
1947: the premonition of Jackie Robinson
It’s a revolution in the small world of baseball. Jackie Robinson becomes the very first black player in MLB, the professional baseball league. The pioneer in a sport yet popular but where professional franchises are prohibited to people of color will especially maintain a correspondence with a certain JFK. This early activist explains to the future president that “a revolution is underway in the country. It cannot be stopped with police dogs ”.
1961 : Bill Russell lance le boycott
Bill Russell is not only the most successful basketball player in history, he is also an early activist. It all started one day in 1961, when his team of the Boston Celtics went to Kentucky. With his teammates, he is refused service in a restaurant in the city of Lexington. To protest against this injustice, the man with 11 NBA titles and his teammates will boycott the meeting the next day.
1967: a deserter named Mohamed Ali
He is the greatest boxer of all time. Born Cassius Clay, the heavyweight later became Mohamed Ali. In the midst of the Vietnam War and in full demand for civil rights in the United States, the icon refuses conscription into the American army. He says this famous line: “No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger (Editor’s note: nigga) ”. A decision that will have serious consequences. Barely escaping prison, he was banned for four years from re-entering a ring.
1968: the raised fist of the Black Panthers at the Olympic Games in Mexico
The image has traveled the world and is part of history. It is October 17, 1968. The United States triumph in the 200m of the Mexico Games with Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists. Suddenly, it is stupor. During the official ceremony, in the midst of the American anthem, the two sprinters bow their heads and raise their gloved right fists. A sign to protest racial discrimination in the United States, plunged into riots, violence and dismay after the April 4, 1968 assassination of Pastor Martin Luther King. A sign of allegiance to the Black Panthers movement, of which the gloved black fist is the emblem.
1968: Arthur Ashe, the pioneer
The tennis player, the first player of color to win a Grand Slam (US Open 1968) has never ceased throughout his existence to be an activist for civil rights and human rights. The city of Richmond (Virginia), before consecrating him as one of its most illustrious citizens, had nevertheless prohibited him from accessing the tennis courts then reserved for white players. A life of activism that will one day make him reach out to a young player discovered during a trip to Cameroon where he spots a certain Yannick Noah. In 1978, he allowed the latter, then 18, to play his first Grand Slam match in the doubles table.
1995: Mandela and Pienaar united
South Africa, ostracized from the great nations because of its apartheid regime, hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995. A competition and a sport which above all aroused the interest of the white community. But President Nelson Mandela understands the importance and the importance of the oval balloon in reconciling a divided nation. On the day of the final, Madiba, his nickname, wears the green jersey of the Springboks and will hand the cup to white captain François Pienaar. More than a symbol.
2005 : Thierry Henry s’engage
The 1998 world champion with the French team launches the “Stand up, speak up” operation (“Get up, express yourself”). A campaign imagined with other players (Rio Ferdinand, Ronaldinho) and intended to raise awareness in the stands to put an end to racist chanting and cries in the stadiums.
2014: The Wrath of LeBron James
Eric Garner’s last words are on the t-shirts worn by LeBron James and his Cleveland teammates. In July 2014, during an arrest, Eric Garner choked to death while uttering his words: “I cannot breathe. In December, the acquittal of the police officer involved angered LeBron James. The US basketball star who has since passed through Miami and now in Los Angeles has never ended his activism. During the last presidential election, the native of Akron in Arkansas campaigned for the mass registration of black populations on the electoral rolls through the operation simply called “Vote”.
2016: Colin Kaepernick brings America to its knees
The gesture was first made on September 1, 2016. Its author is called Colin Kaepernick, the star of the 49ers in American football, makes history. During the national anthem, played before all professional sports meetings in the United States, he kneels, followed by his teammate Eric Reid to protest against police violence against blacks. Raising the wrath of Donald Trump, Kaepernick is rewarded with his gesture at the 2017 Mohamed Ali Prize, rewarding the commitment of athletes to change the world. But since then, the quarterback has not found a team.
2020: Bubba Wallace shakes up the Nascar
The 26-year-old black driver has become a symbol of the fight against racism in the famous motor competition, Nascar, a very popular discipline in the former segregationist states. By dint of conviction, Bubba Wallace manages to have the Confederate flags, a symbol, withdrawn from the circuits. “It’s a symbol of hatred, there is nothing good in this flag,” Bubba blurted. It will be heard and even supported by all the drivers who believe that American motorsport must evolve.
2020: American pro sport flares up
During the NBA playoffs against Orlando, the Milwaukee Bucks players decide to stop everything. Indignant by the shooting of a police officer making a victim Jacob Blake in Kenosha in Wisconsin, the stars of the NBA then express their indignation which will be relayed in the world of baseball, hockey, football or tennis. The basketball season is suspended but the sport will finally resume its rights.
