维尼修斯的抗争：足球与种族歧视

That was a goal scored by Real Madrid forward Vinícius, and it was very beautiful.

According to common sense, this goal should have appeared in the headlines of all the news.

However, the focus of everyone's discussion today has completely changed.

We are not celebrating the art of football, but rather discussing something that makes people sad.

This matter is racial discrimination.

During last night's match, Vinícius once again heard insulting language.

This is the twentieth time he has encountered a similar situation in the eight years he has played for Real Madrid.

This sounds simply unbelievable, but it is the fact.

The opponent in this match was the Portuguese team Benfica.

Some say that a young Benfica player cursed at Vinícius.

Although that player does not admit it, Vinícius's teammate Mbappé stated that he heard it.

Mbappé said he heard that ugly word at least five times.

After the match ended, what happened was even more surprising.

Benfica's head coach Mourinho, that very famous coach, said some things.

His words made many people feel uncomfortable.

Mourinho felt that Vinícius was abused because his celebration moves after scoring were disrespectful.

His meaning was, if you behaved a little better, others wouldn't curse at you.

This kind of thinking is very popular in the Spanish and Portuguese football worlds.

They feel that as long as Vinícius plays quietly and doesn't have a temper, everything will be fine.

Mourinho also said that Benfica cannot possibly be a club with racial discrimination.

His reason is that Benfica's greatest player in history, Eusébio, was also Black.

This is just like saying, because I have a Black friend, I therefore won't discriminate against Black people.

This kind of logic actually does not hold water.

The media and fans often mix two things together when talking.

The first thing is that Vinícius was abused; the second thing is that his attitude is bad.

They believe that because his attitude is bad, being abused is deserved.

However, we must ask a question.

Where do Vinícius's anger and agitated actions come from?

These reactions are actually the result of him surviving in an unfriendly environment for a long time.

A famous writer once wrote that for Black people to be accepted by society, they often need to put in double the effort.

For Vinícius, this pressure turned into anger.

Looking from the outside, his actions might be a bit excessive.

But looking from the inside, this is just him protecting himself.

Sociologists call this situation "racism without racists."

That is to say, although no one admits to being a bad person, the cultural environment is hurting others.

Moreover, when the victim resists, everyone blames the victim instead.

Vinícius has now become a symbol of resistance against discrimination.

The hostility he faces is real; it has names, times, and locations.

Let's take a look at what has happened in the past few years.

At Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, fans shouted and yelled at him.

The police later ended the investigation because they couldn't find who shouted.

In Mallorca, fans made monkey noises at him and told him to go "pick bananas."

Although the relevant authorities said this was terrible, in the end, no one was punished.

On a TV program, a football agent even said he should stop performing like a monkey.

Although this person later apologized, saying it was just a metaphor, the harm had already been done.

The most serious situation was in 2023.

Someone hung a dummy wearing a Vinícius jersey on a bridge in Madrid.

This looked very terrifying, just like a death threat.

Previously, Spanish law was very lenient towards these people.

However, Vinícius's persistence finally brought about some changes.

Last June, three fans who cursed in Valencia were sentenced.

They were sentenced to eight months in prison and banned from entering stadiums to watch matches for two years.

This is the first time in Spanish history that a sentence was given for racial discrimination in a football stadium.

This shows that persisting in resistance is effective.

Vinícius has said that many people told him not to worry about these things and just play football.

But he refused this advice.

He said on social media: "I am not a victim of racism; I am a tormentor of racists."

He said this struggle is not for himself, but for all Black people.

Besides the law, football's governing bodies are also thinking of solutions.

In current matches, if discrimination occurs, the referee can pause the match.

This is called the "three-step" protocol.

Step one, if a player reports discrimination, the referee will pause the match.

The referee will make a gesture of crossing their arms, indicating it is because of racial discrimination.

Then, the stadium announcement will warn fans to stop this behavior.

Step two, if the situation continues, the match will be paused for a longer time, and players will return to the locker room.

Step three, if it still doesn't work, the match will be cancelled.

In last night's match, the referee used this rule.

The match was paused for about ten minutes.

However, many people feel that this rule is not good enough.

Because in the end, the match continued as if nothing had happened.

This makes the victimized players feel very lonely.

Some experts say that unless the match is completely cancelled, this kind of thing is hard to solve.

But cancelling a match is a huge decision, and referees often dare not do so.

This is a very complex problem.

On one hand, we want to protect the players' rights.

On the other hand, everyone wants to finish the match.

But Vinícius's story tells us that silence cannot solve problems.

Only by speaking out loud and punishing bad people through laws and rules will the environment change.

Although this is very difficult, he is still persisting.

For everyone who likes football, this is something worth thinking about.

We hope that one day, everyone will only discuss spectacular goals, and not these ugly curses.