Being a sports fan I am intrigued when I read about racism in sport especially when I think about how the sport in itself would not be where it is today without the participation and the contribution of its coloured (read: non-white) stars.
History is replete with coloured athletes who crossed the racial barrier and went on to be truly international stars. Boxing’s self-proclaimed “The Greatest” Muhammed Ali is one and the 4-gold  hero, Jesse Owens, who set the 1936 Olympics alight, is another.
And as racial barriers came down, we saw ethnic African sportsmen and women make their mark in almost every other sport in the world. Soccer, arguably the world’s most popular sport, has its fair share of coloured footballers who have excelled in the biggest stage of all, the World Cup – Brazil’s Pele and Portugal’s Eusebio come to mind. They brought great joy to all who love the sport. Football brings people together and just for those 90 minutes, people set aside their petty differences and raise their voices so that their stars, irrespective of the colour of their skins, can raise their game to bring glory for their respective clubs and/or nation.
So I was understandably disappointed when I saw on TV what happened at the start of the Manchester United – Liverpool game at Old Trafford (Man U’s home ground) a couple of weeks ago. In the customary handshake ceremony before the start of the game, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez refused to shake the hands of Man U’s Patrice Evra, as he was still smarting from the 8-match ban he received after he racially abused Patrice in an earlier match last October.
Then recent reports emerged that Manchester City’s striker Balotelli was taunted by monkey chants when City played against Portugal’s FC Porto in a Europa league match. Balotelli’s team-mate, Micah Richards, said he reluctantly closed his Twitter account because he could not stand the abuse he was receiving on it.
All is not well with English football when England captain, John Terry, was stripped of his captaincy because of allegations of racially abusing QPR defender, Anton Ferdinand. But the one that really enraged me is the racist tweet by a soccer fan who witnessed the shocking and dramatic scenes on the pitch as paramedics tried to revive footballer, Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a heart attack and was literally fighting for his life.
I began to wonder – what is wrong with our world? Sport is the one arena that racism has found it extremely difficult to rear its ugly head, or was that wishful thinking on my part?
And just when I thought the glowing ambers of racism as reported in the media were dying out, the fires were ignited again closer to home. A netizen came across some pictures of UOB employees dressed in traditional Indian garb who painted their faces black and posted their photos on Facebook. She then informed the mainstream media about the photos, expressing her disappointment with the lack of sensitivity and propriety on the part of the UOB employees who, in their defence (weak as it maybe), were simply trying to have fun at their Bollywood-themed staff dinner.
Some bloggers felt that Singaporeans were just raising a hue and cry over nothing. One blogger from popular citizen journalism site, even implored Singaporeans to “Lighten up…get a date and get laid.”
Sorry, I beg to differ.
While context is important in understanding the true intentions of parties in any controversy, it cannot be presented as an excuse to explain away the actions of those who are culpable, like what the blogger in the site tried to do.
The blogger cited Robert Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder as an example of an entertainer who appropriates someone else’s ethnic identity for laughter and says that its done all the time.
He also cited stand-up comedians Russell Peters and our own Kumar (both of whom happen to be of Indian ethnicity) as examples of people who frequently breach racial taboos in their stand up routines while not receiving any complaints from their audience. BUT even Russell Peters refers to Indians as the “brown” people. You see he understands racial nuances and that the world is made up of all types of people of different colours- white, red, yellow, brown and yes…black.
But people who go to watch such entertainment know what they are in for. That’s CONTEXT for you! They are prepared for the racial digs that they know will come their way thick and fast. And people who are not into that brand of humour can choose not to attend or watch.
Those UOB employees are not entertainers and they certainly were not there to entertain. They were in a multi-racial setting and they, of all people, should have known that their action (of painting their faces black) could spark off a furore.
I am often shocked when I encounter how ignorant Singaporeans are when it comes to knowing and understanding the cultures of the 3 main races here in Singapore.
To paint all members of a race with one broad brush(pardon the pun) is perhaps what defines a stereotype and people can always make excuses for living in a world of stereotypes but I would firmly argue that we should start breaking these stereotypes down.
Well, it looks like its going to be a long hard battle. The newest NBA basketball sensation, Jeremy Lin, who is an American (born and bred), of Taiwanese Chinese descent and plays for the New York Knicks, was not spared the racial slurs.
A famous ESPN sports commentator was heard using the word “chink” in an indirect reference to Lin. He was later suspended by ESPN for 30 days. A few days later, his colleague an editor from the ESPN mobile website posted the following headline – “”Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin’s 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-Snapping Loss to Hornets.”. That was his last headline as he was summarily fired by ESPN within hours of the headline appearing.
Fox Sports columnist, Jason Whitlock, then twittered about Lin’s extraordinary 38 point performance against the Lakers by making a needless and an unfunny remark about his size of his manhood. He then offered an apology by describing his behaviour as “immature, sophomoric”. And to top it, guess what…he blamed it on his penchant for comedy and maintained that he still wanted to be a stand-up comedian, what else?
Why are those guilty of making racial slurs so quick to find refuge under the convenient cover of comedy or “harmless” fun?
I personally know of “friends” who have used this convenient cover to launch sexual and racially tinged jokes at others in the group in a social setting. It is very tough to tell them off as it is couched in humour and if the target of these jokes reacts he or she may be perceived as  being a tight-assed prude.
But when these jokes become more frequent and are targeted at the same person all the time, it becomes tiresome and so unfunny. They are really put-downs and I am really surprised that the perpetrators of this unsavory social past-time are unable to see that they have exceeded the boundaries of decency and proper conduct. The best way to deal with these “jokers”, I guess, is to make oneself scarce around them and reduce your contact time with them.
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