Repeated racist insults against Brazilian soccer star Vinícius Júnior have unleashed a heated debate in Spain about tolerance for racism in a society that is becoming rapidly more diverse on and off the field.
Since the season began in August, the Real Madrid winger has suffered racist abuse by fans of at least five rival teams, including the hanging of an effigy depicting the Black player from a bridge by a group of Atletico Madrid fans in January.
“Racism is normal in LaLiga,” Vinícius said of the top league in Spanish soccer on Instagram and Twitter after he was targeted with monkey chants from Valencia fans at a game on Sunday. “The competition thinks it’s normal, as does the federation, and the opponents encourage it.”
Through his social media presence, Vinícius has repeatedly called out racist attitudes that he says prevail in a southern European country where a third of children are now born to foreign parents, the majority from Latin America and Africa, and society as a whole is becoming more racially diverse.
Politicians were quick to jump on the controversy, dividing along ideological lines. “Zero tolerance for racism in soccer,” tweeted Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. “Hatred and xenophobia should have no place in our soccer or in our society.”
Madrid regional President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who has become a lightning rod for culture war issues before local elections on Sunday, retorted that Spain “is not a racist country,” adding that anyone who said so was “lying.”
But Spain’s wider Black community has long complained of racist treatment in a society that has been home to significant nonwhite communities since the 1990s, and where they feel little action has been taken by either leftist or conservative governments. Reports of racist hate crimes increased 31% from 2020 to 2021, the last year for which government data was available, and racism is the most common form of hate crime reported in Spain.
Rita Bosaho, who oversees legislation relating to race at Spain’s Equality Ministry, urged the government to pass a long-delayed anti-racism law “so that no young person has to go through this again,” in reference to the abuse suffered by Vinícius.
AP
