THE RACISM IN SPAIN FALLS MAINLY ON BLACK'S PLAYING

THE RACISM IN SPAIN FALLS MAINLY ON BLACK'S PLAYING: Frederick Douglass, Kara Walker, Bill Rhoden and Spain's bid for the 2016 Olympics

On November 26th, 2008, Spain's capital streets were filled with the local futbol club, Atletico Madrid's supporters including Castilian season ticket-holders, and those hell-bent on making the pilgrimage from far reaches of the Iberian Peninsula to cheer on their team to a 2-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League pool match. So, what's wrong with this picture? Maybe it's the fact that the fans were outside the stadium. Yeah, this wasn't just another case of tailgaters getting caught up in a thrilling game of hacky sack in the parking lot. They were physically prohibited from entering Vincente Calderon's gates to watch the match in person.

Add the 300 media members in attendance to the 150 players, coaches, and team representatives from the two clubs combined, and there might've been in excess of 500 people in the building. Those with the necessary credentials were absolutely dwarfed by the 55,000-capacity venue; much like a small town high school football team making an appearance at the State Championship does its best to fill the first five or ten rows of the State University's stadium. Only these were world-renowned professional athletes digging their cleats into the pitch.

The PA-announcer actually had to pump in crowd noise from the streets where these die-hards congregated. They listened intently to the match on portable radios and car stereos on this bitterly cold night in the nation's capital. So, why would Atletico Madrid cough up 1 million euro in potential profits from gate receipt plus the concession proceeds from their 37,000 season ticket-holding faithful (let alone lose the direct fan support) on this all-important UEFA Champions League pool play match?

The answer is racism.

Rabid, mass racism, at that. On October 1st, Atletico Madrid faced Marseille while the Atletico Madrid fans gave new meaning to the idea of the 12th man; affecting play from the stands. "There were monkey chants against the nonwhite players throughout the game," UEFA spokesman William Gaillard told Britain's Sky Sports News. According to the Associate Press, Gaillard added that black journalists were also insulted by fans who broke into the press area. Setting the standard for improper conduct, Atletico coach Javier allegedly insulted Marseille player Mathieu Valbuena garnering a two-match suspension. I'll let you guess the color of Valbuena's skin.

The whole scene reeks of mass prejudice and racism, condensation wafting through the cold autumn air on alcohol-tinged screams of Castilian fans in the rationalized righteous name of affecting the outcome on the field of play for the home team. The scene draws comparisons to the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons brawl after which the NBA suspended the players who fought each other and fans alike, concluding most notably with the suspension of Ron Artest for the rest of the season. But of course, futbol players even with the title of "attackers" like Marseille's Momadieu Niang (now injured) and Valbuena know to do their attacking on the field, directing their energy at the ball and against opponents rather than at the often rowdy crowds.

This was over the line, and the UEFA recognized that by not only suspending Atletico's coach, but creating this hollow atmosphere: an empty stadium at the fan's and team's expense. A statement was made, but was it enough? In this case, the crime justified the punishment. The fans were at fault. And the culture cultivated by the team and the state should be corrected. It might take a mutinous storming of the press box for the international administration in Switzerland to notice and ultimately impose sanctions, but this issue has been brewing for far too long.

To more fully understand this discriminatory dynamic in Europe and the culture clash of international futbol; let’s juxtapose this most recent outbreak with the evolution of racism in American sport. A year ago while in Manhattan, my girlfriend (now fiancé) and I toured the Whitney Museum of American Art. After enjoying the relatively impressive work in the permanent collection, we discovered one of the most disturbing yet thought-provoking exhibitions I’ve ever experienced. “Kara Walker: My Compliment, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love” disgusted me with its over-the-top representations of the most hideous acts of slavery. The grave had been dug up. The coffin open. The corpse of confusion; intertwined lust, violence, inhumanity exposed. “Most pieces have to do with exchanges of power, attempts to steal power away from others,” Walker explains. We were met with the rape of an entire race of people expressed through Walker’s titilating albeit revolting art in this exhibition.

I didn’t like it. I wanted to skip lunch. The in-your-face reality of Letter from a Black Girl in which Walker uses the journal entry of a young slave to beleaguer the viewer to feel the intense disgrace of slavery, and images displayed in Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civic War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart exponentially suggestive in its portrayal of the exploitation of slaves in the antebellum south cause one’s stomach to twist and churn. An image of the 'negress' kissing her slaveowner goodbye conjure disturbia beyond Rihanna's grasp let alone my own. The vast immorality of the establishment those days is difficult to come to terms with; an impassable task. It’s American History 101 yet so rarely are the vulgarities understood through reading a history book or watching a documentary. Walker's art seeks to place the observer into a participatory role to feel the shame. She was effective.

So, slavery is horrible. Glad that is understood. But how does that relate to what is taking place in European soccer? I’m getting there. It’s the foundation laid in America which can not be ignored. But the institution of slavery was not all work and no play. Even in the late 1800’s the holidays meant something. Frederick Douglass tells us in his early autobiography American Slave that ‘the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day [were] allowed as holidays…and [many] engaged in such sports and merriments as playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whisky.’ Douglass continues to say that ‘it was a disgrace not to get drunk during Christmas’ and that this holiday policy was ‘among the most effective means in the hands of the slaveholder in keeping down the spirit of insurrection’. Therefore, even the ‘play’ in American slavery was a conniving tactic by one's oppressor. More calculating than John McCain’s move right in the 2008 Republican primary race and quick shift back to the Mavericky center for the general election, pre-Civil War slaveholders only granted levity to subdue mutiny; further securing their stranglehold on the entirety of bound brothers and sisters.

Today and since industrialization a century ago, the United States has continued to be the most prosperous nation in the world. That would not be so were it not for its abusive beginnings soaked in mass-manipulation and agregious victimization. So, after the emancipation proclamation, how has this country been able to sustain production? And to limit the focus of this investigation, how has the sports industry grown over the last century? For decades, segregation and marginalization separated African Americans from mainstream success and just rewards with few exceptions. But over time, the role of the black athlete evolved. According to Bill Rhoden author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves, ‘Black athletes had become a vital commodity in the sports industry, which necessitated a full-service delivery system to identify, prepare, and carry black muscle to “market”.’ Rhoden explains that yesterday’s Black athletes ‘were excluded, blocked, persecuted, and eased out when white owners and management decided they weren’t needed or wanted.’ He goes on to say that, ‘Today’s generation of pro athletes may be wealthy, but they are simultaneously cheered and resented – a tension that cannot last forever’. Essentially, the stress of the present athlete-fan relationship in America has deep roots in slavery. And ownership continues in its white ways analogous percentage-wise to that of government office (President-elect Barack Obama notwithstanding). Jim Crow-style rules have only evolved like a bacteria or virus eludes the human immune system in regards to black ownership and management in the American sports. This informs the argument that a deficiency of color exists at the top of sports organizations; a lack of strong, powerful role models to set a positive example for their like-skinned fans. Furthermore, sports teams have considerable control over their fan base, and how they exercise their affinity. If they don’t use it wisely and with equity, they should be met with appropriate consequences.

Now, what is taking place across the pond in European futbol, and more specifically, Madrid? Is it racism as Americans know it? Sort of. It’s deep seeded. It does target people of color. But what of the systematized exploitation of the African American athlete which Bill Rhoden dissects? I don’t believe that to be the case in the international sport of futbol. Making that argument is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It doesn’t translate. What does permeate the intercontinental divide is the antagonistic relationship between opposing fans, and between fans and athletes of the opposition. It’s a real problem in Europe.

This idea was foreign to me until I first learned about it in August during a conversation with Austin, a member of an ‘anarchist soccer’ team in Austin, Texas (Listen to the conversation here: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?m=200808#). Austin and his team have sought to level the playing field and subvert the aggression and power struggle of sports for more than six years. The ultimate event of the year for his club is the Mondiali Antirazzisti or Anti-Racist World Cup. Now in its 12th year this international event, held just outside of Bologna in Casalecchio, Italy in 2008, seeks to counteract racism in sports. Austin admits that Americans generally have trouble grasping the concept of this demonstration and its necessity. He explains that at ‘soccer games all across Europe, there are football firms which [are] groups of fans that usually subscribe to a particular set of beliefs. There are fascist football firms, there [are] racist, there [are] nationalist [firms]…[and they’re] usually white. Unfortunately, a lot of times, there are fist fights between firms.’ Passions fly high and often violence rears its ugly head amonst these groups of people willing to subvert respect for common man in order to further their support of their country's futbol team.

Now, I’m not saying a Cowboys fan never punched a Redskins fan in the face. I am saying that Redskins fans don’t speak a different language than Cowboys fans do (give or take a few ‘y’all’s). Furthermore, both fans are from the same country regardless of their respective political color (red or blue). Rather, it is basically as if the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys were clubs from completely different countries, and each game represented more than just regional pride; games were a test of superiority among entire races, nationalities, and creeds. The countries that make up Europe are a plenty and closely bunched together compared to the United States. And teams compete in international tournament play such as the World Cup and the UEFA Champions League quite frequently. If I’m Dutch and my soccer team wins, I’m better than you. It’s deeper than mere fanaticism. And it must be regulated from the top down. If not, you have a mutinous fan base on your hands, and next thing you know, your press box has been stormed, and security has gone AWOL.

Madrid Atletico has experienced the negative result of inaction. And in the rest of Spain, racism has not gone unnoticed. Earlier this month,“Barcelona's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o was subjected to racist chanting at a Primera Liga match in Malaga…Earlier in the season, Getafe's Ecuadorian forward Joffre Guerron was racially abused during a match at Sporting Gijon, according to the referee's report [and]…hate messages were posted on a Spanish website targeting British Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, the sport's first black driver”, according to Reuters. All heinous examples of fans hating on athletes of color.

It begs the question: What of the city’s reputation as it seeks to host the 2016 Olympics? Madrid’s Olympic bid Chief Mercedes Coghen is vying for the right to host the summer Games with Rio de Janeiro, Chicago and Tokyo. In an effort to change this dynamic or merely to erect a façade of tolerance, Coghen has launched a series of educational initiatives, and created a video preaching tolerance which will be shown in city schools. Good PR, sure, but is it enough to counteract the institutional racism that is so deeply rooted in a city’s and perhaps a nation’s fan base? Is it too little, too late? Won’t the International Olympics Committee see these abuses and steer clear of Madrid? It’s safe to say that (at Tibet's expense) the same organization that praised the Beijing Olympics as an ‘indisputable success’ in a 3-page report released after the completion of the Summer Games this year will not be swayed by the racist behavior from those who’ll buy tickets to events and watch on television, ultimately paying IOC President Jacque Rogge’s salary.

Here’s to the Anarchists who believe in freedom of thought! Here's to empty stadiums where the echo of racist chants are not soundproofed and ignored, but broadcast for the world to see! Here's to those who fight to not only level the playing field, but the bleachers, the press box, and the owner's suite to boot!

Cheers, JT