Luis Suarez Racism Row

Following my blog about this when the incident first occured http://musingsfromaneet.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-are-we-all-racist.html there has finally been a report published to what Luis Suarez actually said to Patrice Evra, as opposed to what I assumed from a stereotypical basis. Alas, it appears as if I was right, and it appears as if Liverpool's decision to wear the t-shirt pictured below and back Suarez 'all the way' was a dick move. Duh.

Events in short and all in Spanish: Suarez kicks Evra,
Evra asks 'why did you do that?'
Suarez 'because you're black'
Evra 'say that again and I'll punch you'
Suarez 'I don't speak to blacks'
Evra 'dale, negro, negro, negro' (OK, black, black, black)





The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/a-great-rivalry-that-turned-into-a-racist-rant-6283823.html?origin=internalSearch claims that negro is a friendly form or address in Uruguay. As I said before, to refer to someone as black as if that is their name is common in Latin America and also the norm in Portuguese culture as I have witnessed, e.g. a young black man paid for a drink at a street market, started to walk off and the stall holder said 'Oi black you forgot your change!' Black people of those countries tend to accept it as it is so ingrained in their culture to be belittled, even if it is sometimes in jest. This does not make it right and the last time I checked, we were in England. We do not call people according to what their race is, at least unless you are racist scum deliberately trying to insult someone. When is the last time you heard someone defending the cultural norms of a foreigner in England?? If Suarez was not a footballer, his ridiculous supporters would not defended his rantings by saying that it is normal where he comes from, they'd tell him to go do one you f****** foreigner!

Even though £40,000 to Suarez is about the equivalent of a parking ticket to a normal person, that and an eight match ban seems reasonable as an example of the consequences of racism in football. Footballers seem eager to forget that they are watched by millions and everyone on this planet, like it or not, is a role model.

See also http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/

'Racist Tram Lady' as she will forever be known

Is it just me (and I think it is actually) or is that now infamous 'racist woman on the tram' not actually that racist? I don't know why but I don't find it that offensive, & I'm the kind of person she is referring to; a 'brown' in London who has ruined 'her' Britain. I actually find it funny and of course ridiculous, as she is so ignorant & uneducated, but it's more xenophobic than racist. She seems very bitter, which is the worst trait to have so I feel sorry for her actually.

I don't know why it's Asda in particular but every time I go there I think wow, if I was a member of the BNP and I came in here I would just shoot myself in the head right there and then. Trying to find a white English person in Asda such as the woman on the tram, is like trying to find Nicalagala on the map. It's not just Asda people! There is evidently loads of 'us', as the video shows, but fear not BNP/EDL/Chav we still comprise less than 10% of the UK population (that's about the same as the gay population) and we mostly exist in London, the most cosmopolitan place on earth, you know the financial centre of the world? Which exists in the e-c-o-n-o-m-y, globalisation, no haven't heard of any of these words?

If she thinks we have ruined 'her' Britain, why doesn't SHE just fuck off somewhere else in Britain where there are plenty of people who genetically resemble her. There are loads of places where she does not have to look at us browns and blacks, and I'm sure there are loads of job opportunities for her in those places too hmmm. These places will still be full of people that stare at me when I go into a restaurant and ask me if I speak English (*cough cough* Blackpool). Xenophobia exists in any country of the world, in South Africa, African immigrants including people escaping Mugabe's regime, have been lynched on the basis that they are 'stealing' jobs. What is race anyway? What are countries anyway? Mostly borders drawn up by the... duh duh duuuuh... that's right, MY BRITAIN.

See http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/

My Strange Week continued

Continuing from my weird week, my friend and I went for a bite to eat in the evening at our local and were subjected to aggressive verbal abuse continually for a good half an hour. He decided to pick on two small women and called us everything he could, 'informers', 'racists' and in calling us racist he proclaimed he would never again touch a fork if we had touched it. 'Chinese, Indian, they're all racist!', I guess he didn't know what race we were so said the two races that he had heard of. He also said 'They try to be black, look at them, they listen to our music (I'm partial to a bit of Rihanna but c'mon), they try to dress like us, look at them with their baggy jeans, before they used to dress in tight jeans like batty boys (err both of us aren't wearing baggy jeans), they don't even bathe, their pussy's stink!' (Sexism rears its ugly head again surprise surprise, see 'Women's role in the Arab world').

His older friend then came in and asked the guy working at the restaurant why his friend was so angry and if he was conspiring with those two girls. My friend laughed at this whole absurdity and he came right up to us and stared at us with his cross-eyed ugly face in an attempt at intimidation 'Don't laugh at me ya nah, I'm a big man, don't laugh at me'. My friend retorted 'I'll say what I like, what are you going to do?' My mouth is usually pretty big & trust me, there have been loads of times where men have wanted to punch me in the face but I said to her to leave it cos he was clearly MENTAL. (Just like 'grass root' Torys, you cannot reason with mental people.) He then took a banana from the counter, ate it in front of us and said 'black people like to eat bananas'. I eat bananas too, but I don't think that was the point he was making.

My friend suggested that weed had gone to their head, for me I like to think that they were possessed. Why else would they have picked on us of all people, for no reason at all? At least they have an excuse for their bitterness, stereotyping and general nonsensical rants, but what about the politicians of the world?...

Why Are We All Racist?

As with all public gaffes, an apology has already been issued by head of the already corruption-tainted  FIFA. Unless you have your head buried in the sand (see my last blog) then you will know of the latest racism football rows. The much-loved, morally righteous, John Terry claims that it appears as if he called Anton Ferdinand a 'black ****' but what he actually said was 'Do you think I called you a black ****?' Common sense would dictate that if you were accused of saying such an ugly thing you wouldn't then repeat it in a whole sentence. Would a footballer behave that stupidly? Hmmm I wonder. Then there's that other much-liked, upstanding member of society, footballer Luis Suarez. If I can be so bold and actually myself stereotype him, he is from Uruguay, and if you know anything about Latin America, it is pretty racist towards black people. It is treated in a laissez faire manner, e.g. calling black people by offensive names casually, which is socially acceptable and selling jet black dolls with have exaggerated and ridiculous facial and body features. But hey, innocent until proven guilty and all that clap trap, unlike in Mexico where you're guilty until proven innocent but that is a whole other depressing issue.

The good thing that has come out of this and recent twitter trends is that the message conveyed is that most people are against racism. Or at least proclaim to be. We all hate racism, so then why are we all at least an incy bit racist? Anybody saying they are 100% not racist is lying, to the Jerry Springer guest who claims they're not racist with all evidence to the contrary because 'my best friend is black' to Sepp Blatter, who belittled racism by saying an insult in football can be resolved with a handshake. He obviously thinks of the footballing incidents as banter to be expected in the heat of the moment, This is totally absurd, hence Rio Ferdinand's well-said and spot on response on Twitter. 

If I may be racist yet again, Blatter's comments are typical of a white man. I have always said this and for those who need more persuasion please try and find 'How racist are you?' a programme aired by ch4 about an Australian Caucasian woman who has travelled around the world demonstrating that all white people are inherently racist. Basically, white people belittle racism because they have no idea and probably never will fully comprehend how it feels. They rule the world!! Even seemingly racist things said about white people are actually complimentary! For instance, white people have a tendency to give ridiculous examples as to how a situation they have experienced is akin to racism e.g. a posh Tory boy said to me a few days ago that someone in a restaurant assuming he likes his steak rare, even though he does, 'just because I'm English' is racist. Sorry but wth!! A woman on the programme mentioned said that her rugby loving husband having to not dress scruffy was the same thing as a black man feeling outcasted and embarrassed at picking up his white daughter at her all-white school. Even my own dear husband claimed that him being the only white person when he goes to Southall (a London Asian area) is just like being a victim of racism.

Maybe to call every single person racist is a bit harsh as racism means thinking a race is inferior or superior to another and not very many people can honestly castigate an entire race, but we definitely all stereotype. Stereotypes exist because they can be true, but moreover, we have all had experiences where what we initially thought about a person was completely wrong (a friend once said before he befriended me he thought I was a J Lo wannabee and a stuck-up tart). So although racism is a very complex issue which can be debated about forever, let's just give people the benefit of the doubt. Let's aspire to not judge people on their colour of their skin but on their content of their character or in the above cases, their obvious display of stupidity.   

See also http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/