Though not fully eliminated, racism has become less and less of an occurrence in the American sports realm. This is a good sign, considering the stigma associated with the United States because of our well-known history filled with many events of overt racism.
We as a nation have come a long way since the likes of baseball and football stars Jackie Robinson and Jim Brown were persecuted because of their race. We as a state have come a long way since the Black 14 incident, where 14 black students had their athletic scholarships revoked because they planned to protest against the terrible treatment they faced as black student-athletes at the University of Wyoming.
Those situations are regrettable, and though one cannot say that they are completely absent now, strides have been made.
However, the same cannot be said of our neighbors across the Atlantic.
This past weekend, Italian soccer star Mario Ballotelli was subjected to racist chants by fans at the grand derby in the Italian Serie A between Ballotelli’s AC Milan and Inter Milan. Inter fans were seen waving inflated bananas and whistling at Ballotelli, according to a report from ESPN.com.
That situation is bad enough, but it is compounded by the fact the Ballotelli played for Inter Milan from 2006-10, before he transferred to Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League. He was traded to AC Milan in January.
The club has since been fined $79,800 by the Italian Football Federation for the deplorable actions of its fans, according to a separate, more recent report from ESPN.
The saddest part about all of this is that the Ballotelli incident is just the latest in a recent string of racist acts by fans and even players in European soccer.
Chelsea FC and former England National team Captain John Terry was suspended for four games and fined £220,000 by the Football Association (FA) for racially abusing a Black player during a match in late October 2011. Earlier in that same month, Liverpool forward Luis Suarez was charged by the FA with racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra and was handed out a seven game ban and fined £40,000.
These are just the headlining cases of racism in European leagues, but there have been many reports of Neo-Nazi behavior at soccer matches in the Bundesliga in Germany, and the same in leagues in Eastern Europe.
It is understandable that fans and players are extremely passionate about the success of their favorite team and this passion is on another level when it comes to soccer in Europe. But there is absolutely no need, in sports or any facet of life, to abuse someone based on their ethnicity.
I am not giving a solution for racism in sports, because there will always be factions of fans and players who will participate in the action in some way or the other, but the silver lining to all of this is that the American sports landscape has matured into what it is today.
Here is hoping that we are not rocked by the same sort of scandal that has tarnished Europe.
