There is little question that race is a complicated issue in Latin America and there is little question that racism is a problem in football (aka soccer). I do not know the specifics of the accusations against Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan forward for Liverpool. I have heard rumours such as that he called Patrice Evra “negrito”, which is a common expression in Uruguay and elsewhere in Latin America.
I have also read that this provides much of the basis for Suarez’s defense: that this is not an insult and the issue speaks more to cultural differences than racism. I find this explanation alternately understandable and perplexing. Several years ago, I was having lunch with some friends at their apartment in Brasilia. They are attorneys who are politically center-left, who came from humble beginnings and, I believe, like many Brazilians who can trace their lineage many generations back in Brazil, very likely have Afro-Brazilian ancestors.
Yet they called their housekeeper/cook “Neguinha,” i.e., “Blackie.” They explained that this was common. I was tempted to ask them how many whites were called “Branquelo”, i.e., “Whitey” by Afro-Brazilians.
This is one place where Suarez’s argument falls apart for me. I have no data to back this up, but I would find it difficult to believe that there are lots of Afro-Uruguayans who refer to whites they know as “Blanquito.”
But beyond that, I find this argument compelling:
Also, people are making out that Suarez has an ignorance of how one is supposed to behave in Northern Europe, like he’s just come off the boat or something. He hasn’t — he spent five years in Holland (which, the last time I looked, is pretty well developed), including a season playing alongside Edgar Davids at Ajax.
Would he speak to Davids that way? Or Clarence Seedorf? Or any black Dutch player? I doubt it somehow, particularly given how annoyed a lot of Holland’s black players have been in the past about perceived racial bias, let alone overt comments.
I do not know what Luis Suarez’s intent was, if any. I have no interest in getting inside his head. I just wish that this was not an issue for this sport – or for the world.
TD
I’ve been living in Panama for the past 10 months, and the first person I met introduced himself as “Negrito.” I felt very uncomfortable about it, but since I didn’t know how else to address him, I used it when conversing with him.
So…errr…I dunno.
Edit: Also, I do get referred to by my white skin all the time. And fat people/tall people/disabled people/ethnic asian people/blonde people get referred to by whatever distinguishing characteristic (non-European/Latino trait) they have that people notice first.
It’s not great, but that’s Panama.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Reminds me a bit of Ozzie Guillen, who said this of Jay Mariotti (himself an obnoxious piece of work): “What a piece of shit he is, fucking fag.” Then, Guillen tried to claim that calling someone a “fag” wasn’t really homophobic, because, blah blah blah, he’s from Venezuela.
dc
“Negro” (“negra,” “negrito,” etc.) is often used as a term of endearment, as I’m sure you know, by people of all backgrounds, without reference to African ancestry in parts of Latin America. (I understand that the situation you describe with the maid is not a usage among social equals, so that’s not the usage I’m talking about). However, I doubt that Suarez was using it that way given the context. I’ve also read that Evra had just called him “sudaca,” a term which is only used as an insult and also references race and nationality. If that’s true, why is he not also being sanctioned?
Dollared
Gosh, now I want to know what “Sudaca” means. I mean, if you can’t talk trash in 30 idioms, what’s the point of putting on your shin guards?
Brian S
I think the fact that this is an issue carrying the potential of actual punishment is a good thing. It’s not that long ago that the very idea of punishing someone for using a slur against another player during a game would be inconceivable.
dc
@Dollared:
It’s used in Spain to refer to South American immigrants in a pejorative manner. The suffix -aca is usually derogatory. The root word: “Sud” just means south. So I don’t know how you would translate it exactly, but I think it has the same impact as “wetback” or “spick” have here in the States.
Dollared
@dc: Makes sense. But how much can it sting coming from Evra? I mean, he’s not exactly a Spanish upper class twit…
wilfred
I lived in Brazil for 14 years and am a diehard Liverpool supporter. First, to translate a neguinha as ‘blackie’ is to betray a North American political correctness as a translation. You are saying in effect that the term is meant to insult when it is not.
Second, as dc points out, Evra called Suarez sudaca and has not even been criticized while Suarez was dragged through the mud from the beginning. Evra is an asshole – which he was from the opening handshakes in that match. Gerrard walked away from him in disgust at that point.
The ironic part is that the British press and pundits are forever moaning about players trying to get a ‘fellow professional’ sent off on the flimsiest of pretexts. Evra got a fellow professional sent off for 8 games because Suarez called him a name that is nowhere clear cut to anybody.
dc
@Dollared:
You don’t have to be an upper-class twit to use it in Spain. You just have to be the equivalent to the kind of person in the USA who would use “wetback.”
Anya
Let’s stipulate that, “negrito” is a benign term that means “black” or “blacky” or whatever South Americans call their fellow countrymen who are a shade darker than they are. But why the fuck would you refer to someone by the color of their skin? Who does that? I know who does that, assholes who think they’re superior.
If you think this is a benign, culturally acceptable term of endearment, why don’t we ask black South American players, if they’re happy to be called ‘negrito’.
burnspbesq
For me, the odd thing is that Suarez has gotten only a suspension, while Terry is facing criminal charges. Weird double standard there.
wilfred
@ Anya:
Fine. Suarez pointed out that he called Evra what his own teammates called him – I think he was referring to Javier, who used it in a text message. A word is a fucking word. If someone is offended by it, tough shit. Besides, Evra called Suarex a word that everyone knows is offensive and he has not even been reprimanded.
Let’s make a list of all words offensive to everyone and start drilling children in avoiding their use. In the meantime, let’s not have selective punishment.
burnspbesq
@Anya:
Your argument is internally inconsistent. You can’t stipulate that the term is benign and then argue that it’s offensive.
dc
@Anya:
I’m including below a quote from a Uruguayan reader in the comments of the article Randinho linked, but not to defend Suarez’s use of the term. He clearly was not using it as a term of endearment. Though in his defense, he was responding in kind to “sudaca.” Rather, I just want to illustrate how the term can be used as a term of endearment and how when it is, it has nothing to do with skin color or social superiority:
“As a Uruguayan I would love to clarify for the author of this piece the meaning of negrito. We use it with no racial context or undertone, and we do not use it as a term to address black people. I wish you had done a little more research on usage of the word in Uruguay before writing the series of questions you posted. There is enough misinformation going around.
Negrito is a term we use the same way American’s would use the word “sweetie”. People of all races use it on each other. I am white and I call my family members negrito/negrita.”
She continues:
“In any case, I will provide another example of ridiculous terms of endearment Uruguayans use, since we apparently are full of them. “Gordo/a” or “Gordito/a” which means “fatty” is used as a loving term to both, skinny and fat friends and family. Most often used towards the person you love, I call my husband gordito and my brother negrito (neither one being fat or black).
Hope this helps some of the readers better understand that issue.”
Anya
@burnspbesq: Fine! I should have stipulated that it’s widely used in South America. Nevertheless, it’s offensive and anyone who says it’s just a word was never victimized by words.
wilfred
Brian Kettle posted this on one of the LFC blogs, under the title “PFA Double Standards”:
One of the biggest objections that we have is that Suarez acknoweldged what he said when there was zero evidence that he said anything – other than Evra’s word. The point is that Suarez clearly thought the word was inoffensive and never denied saying it when it could have been his word against the really loathsome shit that Evra is.
Anya
@dc: If that’s the case, why did FA make the decision to ban Suarez, based on something that has no racial connotation what so ever. You would think, in a game this diverse, they would have at their disposal cultural consultants.
dc
@Anya:
I said I wasn’t defending Suarez’s use of it. I quoted the explanation so that you could see that the term (and others such as gordo) can be used in ways that just do not translate directly for cultural reasons. Again, if you actually read what I posted you would see I’m not saying the Suarez was using it as a term of endearment. But I do think from his perspective it has less sting, more a belittlement than an outright base insult. But that can be argued forever. Who besides him knows what was in his head? He might not really know. Who can explain the FA’s decision making on this? Well, they are not punishing Evra for what is without a doubt a serious insult based on race and nationality. Maybe they don’t know and don’t care to find out.
wilfred
@ Anya #15:
This is exactly what the club is contesting. The consensus around LFC is that this decision is a slap at Blatter – the English are still pissed about not getting the World Cup
The whole thing stinks of a put up job and the only way to know is to see the report – which is already delayed for weeks. Why? The press expected the club to roll over meekly; it didn’t.
Anya
@dc: Accusation of racism always boils down to whether someone ment harm. No one cares if someone who uses a racial slur doesn’t intent malice. What’s important is the impact. In this case Evra found the term hurtful and dehumanizing.
wengler
Maybe if Suarez weren’t such an asshole I could be persuaded to think this was a harsh sentence.
Karma’s a bitch, Luis. Hopefully somewhere Asamoah Gyan is smiling.
Also the criminal investigation of Terry couldn’t be happening to a nicer guy.
burnspbesq
@dc:
Or maybe it’s OK to mess with American-owned clubs and not OK to mess with Gulf-owned clubs.
dc
@Anya:
Sudaca has no other use than as a really pejorative insult to South Americans for being South American and therefore of a lower order. It’s like calling a Mexican a “wetback” here. Why is Evra not being punished for starting the whole exchange with such a charged insult? Again, I’ve said a number of times that I’m not defending Suarez’s use of the term. I think it’s mitigated by the cultural question, but that’s just my interpretation. What I’m questioning though is the uneven punishment. The other guy is not being punished for something he clearly understood to be a race based insult.
Anya
@dc: I don’t know why Evra was not punished, if he made the comment. Maybe, Evra denied making the comment and it was his word against Suarez.
SLKRR
I’ve been called branquelo, branquecelo, gringo, and alemão (German), all of which are terms used in Brazil to describe pasty-white American/European types. None of them are insults at face value. It depends entirely on the usage. Likewise, the word paraibano nominally refers to someone from Paraíba, a northeastern state. However, in Rio you will often find paraibano used as a pejorative, with the connotation that northeasterners are uneducated, poor, unclean, etc.
If Suarez was using the word as an insult, then it was an insult, even if there are hundreds of non-offensive ways to use the word.
dc
@Anya:
Apparently he admitted it, that he said it and that the exchange with Suarez started there.
Anya
@dc: In that case it’s a double standard. They should have punished them both equally.
I am off to bed. Good night/morning.
not really un blanquito
living in puerto rico as a white person from the states I can say that-
i have been called negrito as a term of endearment by a stranger
i have seen a band leader introducing a musician as our negrito
and yes it is a sweet thing you say
i know not of the football context,
and a blanquito is a derogatory term for a rich person
and black is beautiful!
Brachiator
@SLKRR: If Suarez was using the word as an insult, then it was an insult, even if there are hundreds of non-offensive ways to use the word.
Jeremy Holland
What bothers me about the coverage, particularly in the British press, is the lack of basic linguistic understanding.
The word “negro” is never racist or loaded in Spanish. It’s the word for black. “Un coche negro” is a black car, “pelo negro” is black hair etc. Using “negro” or its diminutive “negrito” which some areas of South America and Spain always use, is no more racially insensitive than us using black to describe our president, people and objects.
If Suarez had added “de mierda” (piece of shit)which is what John Terry said, then you could say he used the term in a derogatory way. But he didn’t. Basically the conversation between Evra and Suarez went as follows, translated from Spanish to English.
Evra: Don’t touch me spic.
Suarez: Why black man?
And for this Suarez was called a racist and suspended.
ahurazo
I’ve never been to Urugay, and I can’t comment as to their relationship with race. But as a Black Puerto-Rican, I will say that both “negrito” and “blanquito” are extremely common on the island, as are “chinito” (for all East Asians, pretty much regardless of ancestry, and “morenito.”
Again, I’m not aiming to excuse his behavior, just trying to provide context from another Latin culture.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Jeremy Holland:
The problem comes when you use such comments in an area where it is “Racially insensitive”. If you’re living in a place where that is true, well, you need to learn that. The “in my culture” excuse is, to be brief, a load of shite.
Where was the word “Spic”, or a synonym used?
Brachiator
@Jeremy Holland:
Bullshit.
mikefromArlington
I was known as the Blanquito by a good friend of mines mom from PR. His wife was negrito. It was fine.
Jeremy Holland
@ Brachiator & The prophet Nostradumbass.
Evra admitted using the term “sudaca” which as mentioned in the previous comments is best translated as “spic” or “wetback.” It only has one use: derogatory.
Could you show me an example where the use of “negro” is racist in Spanish? I lived in Spain for nearly ten years and trust me there are other terms they use. “Negro” simply means black, which is why Suarez used the word because their conversation took place in Spanish, not English.
It’s easy to be self-righteous and say Suarez should know these things when he hasn’t been in the UK a year and is still learning the language. Have you ever lived abroad? It generally takes a few years to become conversational in a foreign language, let alone understand cultural significance of words.
To apply your standards, the next time an English man says, “He doesn’t like fags,” I should call him homophobic, even when he means cigarettes because to my ears his statement sounds antigay.
izzy
The terms aren’t meant to be perjorative. Keep in mind that it’s also common to refer to people as ‘gordito’ or ‘flaquito’ where gordo means fat and flaco means skinny. I grew up in Puerto Rico where I’m considered light skinned and strangers might refer to me as ‘Blanco’ or ‘Blanquito’ if they didn’t know my name. The -ito/a suffix doesn’t really translate to English. Translating negrito as Blacky is as wrong as translating gordito to fatty. The spanish words just arent intended to carry the same sting as the english translations.
That’s not to say that Latin America does not have a problem with racism. It very clearly does and a couple hours watching Univision would make it clear to anyone.
Alemao
They suspended the wrong guy here. “Sudaca” is an insult, no other meaning whatever. It’s something along the order of “wetback.” There’s no possible appropriate use of the word to refer to someone else.
“Negrito” is something you’d say just as a descriptor if you didn’t know the other guy’s name, like if you’re getting on a bus and you’re telling the other guy to get on first. “Móntate negrito.” Yeah, bad choice when you’re out of country, but normal usage at home.
As for where Luis Suarez’ argument falls apart for you, this is your lack of familiarity, not his lack of consistancy. The most common term for a very light person in Brazil is “Alemão.” And it gets used, all day long. You cannot avoid it, and you can’t really even complain about it. I spent years being “Alemão.” “O, Alemão, quer a sua coxinha com catupiry?” And I’m not German. I watched the whole Cup in ’02 in Brazil, and as they say, “apanhei.”
In the Dominican Republic, I was readily called, if not “Gringo,” “Rubio.” And I have black hair. This is seriously the way people talk to each other. Gordo, Flaco, Dentuso. Rubio. Negro. Indio. Nalgú, Cojo. Bajito.
Suarez made a poor choice to use a word which could be misunderstood in his host country. However, Evra used a word which is always an insult. That Suarez is suspended and not Evra is a miscarriage of justice. It’s a cheap and cowardly shot for Evra to claim to be the victim in an exchange he started, and in which he was the more offensive. Evra has admitted calling Suarez a “sudaca.” When does Evra get judged?
This is up to Evra and his club to sort out. Until he does, he should be considered a coward and a manipulator, the cheapest of cheap shots. Evra should be ashamed of himself. Fans should turn their backs on him.
Randy Paul
Okay, humor me: How would you translate it? Moreover, I hasten to point out that it the nickname ran in only one direction and that she referred to her employers as Dona Wanda and Seu Francisco. In this case it was an issue of class AND race. If her bosses were black and she was white, I doubt if she would have called them Neguinho or neguinha.
dc: thanks for mentioning the Sudaca allegations. i’d forgotten about that.
SLKRR: If you call a woman paraiba in Sao Paulo, you’re essentially calling her a lesbian.
I don’t know what the allegations are against Terry, but I am extremely uncomfortable about crimanlizing thought and verbal utterances that don’t rise to the level of menacing someone.
HBin
@burnspbesq: Evra complained to the FA, so the case is handled internally by the FA. In Terry’s case, Anton Ferdinand did not complain to the FA, someone watching the TV broadcast of the game complained, I’m not sure to whom (the police?), that’s why it is not handled as an internal matter. UK has laws against racist and hate speech.
Lab Partner
@Brachiator: This.
Also, if you saw the game and saw the look on Suarez’s face as he taunted Evra you’d have a hard time believing that he used the word “Negrito” out of the goodness of his heart. His contempt for Evra was open and plain to see. Evra probably taunted Suarez, and may have used the word “Sudaca” for which his deserves a ban as well. But that doesn’t absolve Suarez.
It would be nice if the FA went ahead and published the results of the investigation. It might give us all some more details and reduce some of the speculation.
HBin
I’m guessing that there’s no video evidence in Suarez’ case, unlike Terry’s, which is why the court is not involved. It probably boils down to he-said-he-said between Suarez and Evra, which is why I think it’s stupid for Suarez to come up with all these excuses that the word negrito is not racist etc etc. He’d be better off just keeping his mouth shut, the minute he tried to defend the word as not being racist, OF COURSE everyone would assume he did say it. Why else would he be working so hard to defend the usage of that word?
Emma
@Anya: Evra is saying he finds it hurtful and dehumanizing. Evra is also an asshole who uses racial insults himself, and he hasn’t been punished. Strange, isn’t it?
Emma
@Lab Partner: Well, Evra had just called him a “wetback” or “spic” depending on the translation. How would you react? Kiss his damn feet and say “thank you, massa?”
Lab Partner
@Emma: Did Evra call him that? Still waiting for the FA report to hear what he actually said. Still waiting for the FA report to hear a few things about the incident.
But assuming Evra did say that I guess the way I would react if I were in Suarez’s shoes depends on whether or not I wanted to be banned. Players try to bait other players into getting carded or worse all the time. If Evra said something racially insulting (something I don’t have a problem with him being banned had he done it) Suarez knows that responding to it could get him booked or banned. He took his chances and now he pays for it.
Randy Paul
As for where Luis Suarez’ argument falls apart for you, this is your lack of familiarity, not his lack of consistancy. The most common term for a very light person in Brazil is “Alemão.” And it gets used, all day long. You cannot avoid it, and you can’t really even complain about it. I spent years being “Alemão.” “O, Alemão, quer a sua coxinha com catupiry?” And I’m not German. I watched the whole Cup in ‘02 in Brazil, and as they say, “apanhei.”
I do know this. One of my wife’s cousins actually goes by that nickname. Don’t know if this happens in Uruguay, but point taken. In your case, they probably didn’t know your name and addressed you accordingly.
FWIW, both players have their names on the back of their jerseys and both are famous, so I don’t see it being an issue. I stand by what I said regarding the incident I mentioned in Brazil: it is clearly an issue of class as it is one of race. This housekeeper/cook clearly has a name other than “Neguinha.”
Brachiator
@Jeremy Holland:
I have known people who got tremendously insulted because they were adressed with “tu” and not “usted.”
I’ve known people who have lived in foreign countries for years, but who have never picked up the nuances of the culture. And in college I knew a guy who could speak seven languages and never had anything interesting to say in any of them.
There can be a world of difference between seemingly neutral words used between friends, and those used in a context of stress, anger or disdain. Even children are aware of this. It is not complicated.
Paul in KY
@Jeremy Holland: Suarez: “Why, little black man?’
Don’t forget the ‘little’.
Randy Paul
@Brachiator:
In Easter Sunday in 1974 I was 16 years old living in Kaiserslautern, Germany visiting Ludwigshafen to see Yes at the Friedrich Ebert Halle. When I was asking for directions in German, I first came upon a man perhaps three years older than me, who upon hearing my say Friedrich Ubert Halle replied: “Friedrich Ebert Halle. You are quite wrong.”
He used the du form to address me, which is acceptable for an adult to a child, but I saw it as a putdown.
cmorenc
My last encounter with explicit racism in soccer came a couple of years ago, while refereeing a men’s open amateur match in Raleigh, in the final five minutes of a match between blue v yellow in which blue was up 3-1 and generally having the superior run of play and possession throughout the second half. The yellow team was near the top of the league table, considered themselves considerably better than the blue team (lower-mid table), but had grown increasingly frustrated and pissy with finding themselves so outplayed by blue that afternoon, and the match was becoming increasingly challenging to keep in control.
A particular forward on the blue team (who happened to be black) had proven especially frustrating for the blue defenders to contain. Following a yellow turnover at midfield, blue quickly generated a counterattack against the disorganized yellow defense, during which said blue forward was fouled-in-possession about four yards outside the PA in front of the right post. As the yellow defense was organizing for the free kick, I overheard their center back (ethnically white) barking at his right back about “playing like a monkey”, which I momentarily took to mean frustration with his mate’s substandard defending on the counterattack, more a careless but unintentionally inflammatory choice of words. Nevertheless, with the game getting emotional and the (black ethnic) blue forward within clear earshot of the remark, I cautioned the yellow defender, telling him what a poor choice of words that was.
His response? He looked AND pointed with his hand straight at the black opponent, saying: “Calling him a monkey isn’t a racist remark!” YEEEOW! Immediate red card to defender. Ten seconds later, a shoving fight broke out between a blue teammate of the forward and another yellow player. Red card to both, followed immediately with termination of the game two minutes early. Fortunately, the black player kept his head and other teammates intervened to break up the fight and keep the hotheads separated. The perp guilty of the “monkey” remark got an extended multi-game suspension by the league for his “monkey” remark.
pete
I lost respect for Suarez as a person (not as a footballer) after his antics at the World Cup. I think that quoting 1994 or even 2002 is unfair, since the point is that attitudes have evolved and, I hope, will continue to do so. I think that Suarez was an idiot to go to color as an insult. Liverpool FC are looking like jerks. They and Suarez have handled it badly, what with the T-shirts and tweets and all — no dignity, no class. Man Utd (full disclosure: my club since before Munich) have at least had the sense to keep quiet.
All that said, eight matches is ridiculous, and it’s quite possible Evra deserves something too.
HBin
@Emma: Suarez should have filed a counter-complaint against Evra then, so the FA can investigate that too, instead of just telling the media. Surely Liverpool knows how to play this game, too, the club can’t be that stupid.
Jeremy Holland
@ Paul in KY: Yes, I guess you’re right, but I think the suffix -ito is really hard to translate as just “little,” although Evra is short.
@ Brachiator: I’m glad you know the difference between “tu” and “usted,” but you didn’t answer my question: When is using “negro” in Spanish racist? The fact is the word simply means black. It’s not “seemingly neutral” or “only used among friends.” It is an adjective for a color like blanco for white, azul for blue, etc. When Obama won the presidency, the Spanish press said, “El primer presidente negro de EEUU.” They weren’t insulting him, were they?
As I said in my original comment, had Suarez added “de mierda,” I would’ve said he was being racist. But he didn’t. I know in the US, the word “negro” is racially loaded, conjuring images of Kent State, George Wallace etc. But for Spanish speaking people it’s meant black since the language derived from Latin and Arabic.
And yes, I know Randinho and others mention Suarez lived in the Netherlands for four years, so he should know better. But it’s a different country where white people put on an afro and paint their faces black on Dec 5th to play Santa’s African servant from Spain: Black Peter.
Look. I don’t want to see racism in football or in the world for that matter. But calling someone a racist and suspending him for using “black” in another language during an argument on a football pitch seems extreme, don’t you think?
Fifi
I don’t know jack about the semantic and cultural subtleties of “negrito” vs. “negro” vs. “black man” vs. whatever racist or not.
But I DO know one thing about the recipient : Patrick Evra is a douche on an intergalactic scale, a terminal-stage whinny, narcissistic PoS of a person, even compared to the usual PoSiness of the averge soccer player, which is to say quite something. He truly stands out. The guy has an ego and a sense of entitlement which reach into the realm of the utterly pathological.
His behavior as captain of the national French team during the 2010 World Cup was so bad, so out there, it earned him a 5 matches suspension, which turned in practical terms into nearly two years of exclusion from the French national team. As far as I know, it was the first time ever in the French national team that a player, let alone the captain of the team, was excluded for unacceptable, non-game related behavior.
The guy is a worthless douche. It’s as simple as that. So whatever Suarez told him, I don’t care. Evra probably earned it and a lot more to boot.
HBin
@Fifi: So if Suaez called him a “nigger” or called his mother is a whore that’s okay with you,too? Whatever, right? Since Evra is such a douche.
Alemao
@Randy:
This housekeeper/cook clearly has a name other than “Neguinha.”
Well, so does your wife’s cousin. But when people commonly refer to him by a word referring to his physical appearance and, specifically, the color of his skin, you call it “his nickname.” What makes it different in these two cases?
You began this discussion with a post including the phrase “I have no data to back this up, but I would find it difficult to believe that…”
Are you really David Brooks in disguise? Should your nickname be “Bobo?”
In every Latin American country I’ve visited, it’s common to refer to people according to their physical appearance. And they don’t stop just because you’re white. Güero, Gabacho, Rubio, Alemão, Gringo… But that’s different, because if you’re white it’s your nickname, whereas if you’re black it’s an insult?
The problem here is a double standard. FIFA has ruled it’s okay to call someone something equivalent to “wetback,” but it’s not okay to call someone “black.” Your double standard is far less troublesome, but it is one nonetheless. Maybe it’s impossible to see one if you can’t see the other.
robuzo
The argument that Suarez didn’t know better is a sham, as you point out. He is hardly fresh off the boat. Still, I think a more creative response might have been in order- give him the chance to make an anti-racism video and do other work for SRTRC (and make big donation or two). Throwing him out of games makes it seem like it’s high school and he got suspended- kind of a nannyish response to juvenile behavior. The players that need major suspensions are the ones committing violent, unsportsmanlike acts on the field. It makes more sense for a player to receive an eight-match ban for a spikes-up potentially season- or career-ending pseudo-tackle than it does for crime being a puerile ignoramus.
Randinho
Well, so does your wife’s cousin. But when people commonly refer to him by a word referring to his physical appearance and, specifically, the color of his skin, you call it “his nickname.” What makes it different in these two cases?”
The fact that he hates the name Waldemar and he’s not being called that by someone who is his employer and of a different race.
Are you really David Brooks in disguise? Should your nickname be “Bobo?”
No but I think it describes your comment.
What double standard? I don’t see one. I just find it objectionable to refer to people based on their appearance. I found it objectionable when former President Cardoso referred to his own portion of Afro-Brazilian blood by saying “tenho um pé na cozinha” (I have a foot in the kitchen).
God forgive me for wanting a world where race and physical appearance doesn’t delineate us and is merely a fact of life. As much as I love Brazil, it’s a myth that it’s a racial paradise. Think about what would happen if something like this happened here.
Fifi
@HBin
On the nature of the insults, in absolute, no. Of course, not.
But when it’s applied to people like Evra or … I don’t know, Newt Gingrich, I don’t give a flying **bleep**. There are people who by theirs actions and behavior over time have forfeited the right to civility and are worthy of complete contempt. And if it means they will be used as verbal pinatas by other not-so-worthy and frankly vulgar and bigoted characters, so be it.
Anyone calls that guy whatever, I just don’t give a **bleep**. Any whining emanating from his corner should be ignored.