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A few seconds after the footballer started Bukayo Saka he missed his penalty shootout in the European Championship final on Sunday and as a result was a victory for Italy, an atmospheric change that took him across England. As the tournament progressed the weeks of celebration and national spirit that brought the country together were cleared up floods of racist comments with three black penalties: Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
As I was scrolling through Saka’s Instagram account after the match, I felt like I was being taken to England 50 years ago. The comments were full of emoji monkeys and bananas, told him to “get out of my country” and even referred to the use of the word n. As scary as I was, nothing like that surprised me. It’s just a hard-hitting memory of a culture that is untouched by racism that dominates England.
During the match, blacks joked on social media about the potential for racism that England should lose. Black people were ordered to evacuate bars and close their doors if there were any humorous tweets in Italy. We all joked about these comments when we didn’t expect to wake up to the racist reality the next morning.
When England lost to Italy the football players received violent comments on the players ’social networks. Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke accused Rashford of “politics” – as a reference his campaign to end child food poverty – Other parliamentarians instead of spending more time “improving their game” on the WhatsApp message, and vandalized the mural of the Manchester-based player Withington (Manchester).
As expected, this racism was responded to with an almost smiling message of anger from Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Interior Minister Priti Patel. Johnson said the abuse was “horrific” and told racist fans to be “ashamed of themselves”. Patel also tweeted that the player “condemned the violent minority he attacked.” Johnson and Patel do not see that they are directly responsible for promoting this environment and that this racist response is a reflection of their government.
It is very difficult for anyone to take their words seriously, given the racial antagonism and lack of sensitivity. Johnson is the same person he was he compared Muslim women to “mailboxes”, described Black Africans as follows “Piccaninnies” “watermelon with smiles” and noted that Africa’s problem is that Britain “no longer exists”.
Patel – herself the daughter of Ugandan-Indian refugees – is no better. He gave the Black Lives Matter protests last summer labeling the protests “terrifying,” establishing some of the most draconian immigration policies and arming the police with greater legislative powers without taking a single step in tackling the institutional racism that prevails.
Examining this week’s racist episode in detail, Patel has directly sparked unwanted race through calculated comments about players taking the knee in recent weeks. After hearing that football fans were kneeling in protest against the racism of the English team, Patel felt compelled label the knees as a “gesture policy” and he clearly defended the right of fans to boo. Now he seems to be trying to distance himself from the same people he was hiding a few days earlier. Honestly, it’s late.
Unfortunately, this racist reaction had to happen to England, once again, to deal with the harsh reality of a very real racism that is so desperate. Racism in this country has been documented since ancient times, however, our society refuses to acknowledge its existence or to seriously discuss ways to deal with it. This was brilliantly demonstrated by the UK government a discredited report on race and ethnic inequality, published in March this year. In that controversial report, racism was massively diminished, and the UK was touted as a “model for other white-majority countries”. President Tony Sewell of the report further denied that there is evidence of real institutional racism: “We no longer see Britain when the system is deliberately set against ethnic minorities.”
If so, then how do you explain this week’s racist attacks?
In recent years, the British government has fabricated a cultural war around “real” English values, with discussions that enslave slave states and flags. For Johnson’s Conservative side this is just a campaign tactic. However, as we are seeing the rise of racist hate crimes, these invented cultural wars have real and dangerous consequences. Therefore, Johnson and Patel’s lukewarm response to the actions of racist football fans this week can only be seen as hypocrisy.
Instead of giving performative statements against racism, those in power should reflect and be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof. This need for action also extends to social networking organizations that achieve high returns, however, that do not establish effective protections against the hate speech spread on their platforms. The issue of racism can only be addressed at the institutional level when the full and frank recognition and complicity of its existence is accepted by those responsible.
As the old saying goes, the fish rot in their heads. Racist attacks on black players on the England team are more complex than the occasional bitriol of a minority. Racism is endemic in our society and is the result of not addressing the core social and political issues. If this interview disappears after this week’s news cycle and national conversation, we won’t learn anything.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the attitude of Al Jazeera’s editorial.
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