Racism - Mod Note on 1st Post - Read before posting.

May have been posted already, but here are Paul McGraths views on things:-


Liverpool's decision to don T-shirts in support of Luis Suárez 24 hours after he was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra was described as "shameful" by Paul McGrath, while Alan Hansen, the club's former captain turned television pundit, issued an unreserved apology for describing black players as "coloured" on Match of the Day.
McGrath, the former Manchester United and Aston Villa defender, led widespread condemnation of Liverpool's increasingly isolated stance over Suárez and claimed he would have thrown the T-shirt to the floor had he been the striker's team-mate Glen Johnson. The right-back later responded on Twitter: "I will support who I want when I want!!! There are a lot of reasons why I'm standing by Luis Suárez!!!"
Liverpool players and the manager, Kenny Dalglish, all wore the T-shirt, featuring Suárez's image on the front and his name plus number on the back, before their draw at Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night. The Football Association is not expected to take action over Liverpool's defiant show of support for the Uruguay international or the extraordinary statement released by the club in the wake of the eight-match ban and £40,000 fine handed to the 24-year-old on Tuesday.
The FA is keen for the findings of the independent commission that found Suárez guilty, led by Paul Goulding QC, to be published as quickly as possible, given the controversial and often uninformed debate that has erupted around the case. Goulding, however, does not work for the FA and the reasons may not be released until after Christmas. Only when Liverpool have received the commission's findings will their 14-day period in which to appeal commence.
Liverpool's pre-match clothing at the DW Stadium has attracted criticism from several black footballers, and McGrath claimed it represented a devastating setback to the accomplishments of anti-racism campaigns. The former Republic of Ireland international said: "Maybe Kenny [Dalglish] is trying to make a statement to the FA but I just think it is in bad taste that he sent them out in those T-shirts. It would have been much better for Liverpool Football Club if they had have worn anti-racism shirts.
"It's about respect. There's this issue going on about respecting your opponents. It is actually a game. The game itself has gone too big, it's about winning and the money. The actual element of football being a game has long since gone, it is all about protecting your interest, protecting your best players. There are a lot of children that watch these games and to have done what they did last night, doing their warm-up in T-shirts with his smiling face on it, having just been done for a supposedly racist comment to one of his opponents, is shameful for football. It puts the anti-racism campaign back to the beginning as far as I'm concerned.
"If I was in Glen Johnson's situation, I'd have thrown the shirt to the floor. If that had been someone in my time and I'd heard the comments or I'd even suspected he was guilty – and obviously there has been a tribunal – then I would not wear a T-shirt with his name on it, saying all is well and good here."
The Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts also thinks the Suárez case transcends sport. He tweeted: "The stance on the Suárez issue from LFC has bemused me – are United going to print Evra shirts now????? Some issues are bigger than football." The former Newcastle United defender Olivier Bernard, now an anti-racism campaigner, said: "I really didn't think it was fine to wear the T-shirts. I can understand the club's side of it, but in society we can't accept racism and give support to a player who has used racist words."
Liverpool players have defended their collective decision to wear the T-shirts at Wigan. José Reina said: "He has our full support. We were together from the very first minute of the allegations and [the T-shirts] were the minimum we can do for him. I am 100% he is not racist and he has been accused of racism. We want him and everyone to know we are right behind our team-mate because he is a lovely guy and he has been crucified by some people and it is not fair. Eight games is not even close to being fair."
The controversy enveloped Hansen after he twice used the word "coloured" to describe black footballers on Match of the Day on Wednesday when discussing the current John Terry and Suárez racism cases. The 56-year-old Hansen, the show's long-time pundit, said: "I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused – this was never my intention and I deeply regret the use of the word."

http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/22/liverpool-shirts-luis-suarez?cat=football&type=article

mixednuts wrote: »

I know standards and racism laws need to be maintained but does anyone else think the World has gone mad , and way over the top ?

Maybe it's a byproduct of the rise of the P.C Brigade in recent years but everyone has become super sensitive .

I am not saying this in direct reply to the Suarez case

It's not black and white (no pun intended). You can make comments regarding someone's ethnicity that seem harmless to you, but basically you're being racist if the person takes offence. To me that seems a bit stupid, letting that person decide what is and isn't racist in every case.

Saying "it's a sensitive subject so just don't say anything that could be construed as racist" is probably the best way to go to just avoid conflict, but when you start legislating based on this you run into trouble. I don't envy the FA having to deal with the whole mess - a common sense approach and they appear soft on racism; a hard-line approach and they punish someone who may not have meant any harm.

Outside of football, I saw Reginald D Hunter a few years ago addressing this. He was talking about how as a black comedian he was always asked whether or not a joke or a humourous comment was racist. His view was, if there's hatred in your heart when you say it, then it's racist. That seems to hold up for me personally. But then, you can't legislate for that kind of thing on a football pitch.

No, I'd use the word black too. However by the very worst accounts, that's the word Suarez used. There was no abuse attached, not 'black ****', 'black monkey' anything like that. So in effect referring to someone's skin colour is always racist. Seems ridiculous to me.

RasTa wrote: »

There is still a difference between using 'black' to describe someone's race when they are not beside them then calling someone black boy or whatever he said to their face.

Context baby, guess we will find out soon enough

So you can call a black person black as long as their not within earshot?

Cool. Got ya now.

Mr Alan wrote: »

So you can call a black person black as long as their not within earshot?

why make reference to it in the first place?

Blatter wrote: »

Alan, for the 1 billionth time.

Bringing somebody's race into a heated situation is not the same as just referring to them as black.

I'm hoping that someday the penny will drop with you but I won't hold my breath.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

why make reference to it in the first place?

Well, as you are both well aware, apparently it was in response to "get your hands off me South American", so he was simply responding in kind by bringing ethnicity into it.

I think you'd want to be off the wall totally crackers to think if that is the case, one fella is a "victim" and the other fella has racially abused him.

Killme00 wrote: »

I agree that if Suarez called Evra "Negrito" then this could/should have been explained and understood as a misunderstanding on both sides.

Fair enough.

Killme00 wrote:

If he said "Negro" then i dont believe that is acceptable. The reason i dont think that is acceptable is that it is not an acceptable word to call a balck person in England. I would never call a black person "Negro" and i'm sure you wouldnt either.

See this is the issue, by all accounts the encounter took place in Spanish.

Negro simply means black in Spanish, it holds no offensive meaning.

Killme00 wrote:

I actually believe that the decision to find him guilty has been extremely badly managed by the FA. Who made up the abitrary panel and what's there backround to make a decision like this? But, I must also add that the reaction to that verdict has been badly managed by LFC.

Fair enough.