Even Across the Pond

Writer: Noel Austin

In today's climate, race and racism are topics this country is still trying to have a conversation about. With our current president, it seems as if racism has made a comeback, or better yet, it never left. It just got more amplified by our president and how he views different minorities. But this story isn't about the harsh racism in America,it's about the continuation of racism in different countries.

Black athletes now are pretty different from black athletes in the past. Back then, black athletes didn't really speak up about tough topics. They just wanted to play their game and get their check, and there is no harm in that. Today, most black athletes have noticed how big of a platform they have and the impact they have. Athletes like Colin Kaepernick, Lebron James, Steph Curry have all used their platform to talk about issues they see in this country and start a conversation. Even if they are demonized by a whole league or told to shut up and dribble, they continue to push through that to get their message across.

Manchester City Forward, Raheem Sterling, started to become one of these black athletes over In the UK. People assume that America is a country that has all the racial issues which isn't true. What's happening here is definitely happening in other countries. Raheem was born in Jamaica and at 2 years old, his mother took him and his family to England. He grew up in Wembley, a city in north-east London. When he was 17, he started to become one of the best soccer players in London. He would eventually sign to Manchester City, and would become one of the most expensive players with his first contract being $63.7 million.

As his career continued, he started to be involved in more racially charged incidents towards him. Even when he would play on England's National team, he would be racially abused by his own fans. Sterling is a quiet player who never makes a scene and he isn't too flashy. However, different news publications portrayed Sterling as this flashy, hot shot, black kid with a lot of money. That's where Sterling drew the line, because that wasn't him as a person. The most recent incident that drew global attention was when Manchester City played Chelsea Dec 8th. Sterling went to grab the ball for a corner ( if you don't know what a soccer field looks like the corner is pretty close to the fans), as he grabbed the ball, four Chelsea fans were saying racially charged things to Sterling. You could tell by watching the game that what they said really messed with Sterling. After the game, Chelsea was notified of the incident and has since banned the four fans for life from the stadium. This along with the British media portraying black footballers as certain stereotypes drew Sterling to a point where he had to say something.

He has since started a big conversation in soccer about how black players are portrayed to the mass and the racial abuse some players including himself endorse. We have to understand that racism is still alive. It's not something black people point out or say happens for fun. It is real and we as people need to have a conversation about racism and systemic racism.