CV and mad panic behaviour

[PaulP]

Racism has no place on football forums, football fields, schools, workplaces etc etc etc. Perhaps the problem is we dont discuss it enough. I can only speak for myself but as the son of Italian immigrants, I grew up experiencing racism everyday of my childhood life. I am sure it was insignificant compared to what our nations First People experienced or the African Americans experience. Many people like me learnt (or taught ourselves) to tolerate it and laugh it off, even now. Perhaps that has in fact made the problem worse by not standing firmer against it, that is, calling it out and thus educating the perp.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, the change needs to happen in our hearts, and that means all of us, rich, poor, black, white. And it is not a set and forget scenario. It requires vigilance and attention every day.  And apathy is a major problem in this regard.

Also, racism manifests itself in subtle ways - it's not just about skin colour or strange food or being called names. Chris Hedges does volunteer work in prisons around where he lives in Princeton. He told a story of a black prisoner telling him that he never experienced racism because no one called him the n word. Hedges then described to him the public schools in Princeton for the predominately white middle class - all nicely furnished, well maintained etc. This prisoner grew up in a black neighbourhood, and when Hedges asked him to describe his school, he talked about broken lights, things not working, no replenishing of supplies for the teachers etc. Hedges, who has worked in poor neighbourhoods for decades, simply said, "that's racism."