18 Jul 2021 – 5:30 a. m.
Algerian-born French striker Karim Benzema accurately summed up the attitude of many Europeans towards their African-born athletes: “If I score, I’m French; if I throw it away, I am an Arab ”.
Rashford, Saka and Sancho, three great English footballers of African ancestry, were fiercely insulted and threatened on social media after missing penalties in the final of the European Championship, failures that ultimately gave Italy the victory. The same players who in the days before had become a source of enthusiasm and unity for their country brought out racism, xenophobia and other scourges of broad groups in England in the wake of the defeat. Boris Johnson and other leaders on the right were forced, in a forced tone of political correctness, to condemn the attacks on black footballers.
These aggressions reveal the contradictions and ambivalences of England today. The possibility of triumph in the European competition fueled the nationalism of a country that is premiering the Brexi and, as the writer Anne Applebaum notes, where broad conservative groups suffer from nostalgia for their lost empire. The defenders of the alienation of Europe, largely based on the rejection of immigration and xenophobia, in the event of the victory of their team would surely have praised and glorified the players of their team, including, of course, those of African origin.
These problems are not unique to England. The contribution of their colored footballers was decisive for France to win the last World Cup, to such an extent that Barack Obama declared that it was the first African team to achieve victory in that tournament. The great pride of France was due, to a large extent, to the children of immigrants from its former colonies: Mbappé, Kanté and Pogba. With the joy of football, for a time, that country put aside its entrenched diseases of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia.
For their part, the footballers themselves have become anti-discrimination activists. The English players and many North Americans, black and white, in support of the movement of Black Lives Matter, they begin their games by putting a knee on the ground, a gesture of rejection of racism that infuriated Donald Trump and that has been criticized by numerous conservative commentators and even by senior members of the British government.
In Colombia, where these racial problems also exist, although in a different way, the soccer team has been a source of unity, enthusiasm and also, many times, of frustration and collective suffering. But even after the bitterest defeats, skin color has never been used to point out, with insults and threats, the culprits of poor results.
Perhaps the difference with Europe is that racism in Colombia does not manifest itself through accusations of people of color that they are not Colombian. Although discrimination and inequality of opportunities undoubtedly exist in our environment, all human groups are considered to belong to the country. In fact, the love and admiration that the triumphs of people as diverse as Egan, Nairo, Ibargüen, James and now Lucho Díaz arouse are proof that people of all origins feel represented by them.
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