A lot of black people were surprised that John Terry got off. But then there were a few black people that were not. There were a lot of white people of the opinion that it was a nonsense trial in the first place and a few were even saying Anton Ferdinand to pay court costs. (Read the comments section on most news outlets) In actuality it wasn’t Anton Ferdinand that pressed charges it was the police that probed video footage viewed by a lot of people on the internet that brought charges about – so at least that’s something Anton Ferdinand will have to face because in my opinion that would have been an even bigger piss take than the Not Guilty verdict.
It’s funny how Luis Suarez was punished by FIFA for his racial abuse of Patrice Evra – even though there was no video footage and no witnesses. And it’s funny how people have to call for FIFA to punish John Terry after the Not Guilty verdict.
A lot of people think that the word c**t is more offensive than anything else John Terry said, and that calling Anton Ferdinand “a f*****g b***l c**t” is not racist – just offensive. As a black person what John Terry said is racist, as well as offensive. And for those that refuse to see it – let me break it down for you. Why even utter the word black? Why not call him a f*****g c**t? If John Terry had been talking to a white QPR play would he have called them a f*****g w***e c**t? I don’t think so. Is it starting to resonate? Let’s delve a little deeper. It emerged during the trial that Anton had brought up the fact that John Terry had had an affair with a former team mates girlfriend and that before the racist comment was mentioned, the two were hurling insults at each other. So it then becomes apparent then that they were riling each other with offensive language. In continuing the theme of being offensive and insulting John Terry calls Anton Ferdinand “a f*****g B***k c**t”. This is racist because they were trading insults and being offensive trying to wind each other up, and by bringing colour into the argument he is insulting Anton Ferdinand based on something he perceives as beneath him, something he himself is not and therefore placing himself on a higher standing, superiority. And therein lies the racism.
The thing with racism as that we are led to believe it’s a thing of the past and doesn’t occur anymore. In actuality racism still very much exists today – it’s the comments made by David Starkey on the 2011 riots where he said that “white people had become black”, it’s the way the Italian press depicted Mario Balotelli as King Kong, its in the murders of Stephen Lawrence and Anuj Bidve, its in the Eurocentric idea of beauty that is propagandised throughout media. Just because it’s not as direct as it once was, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. For John Terry to have been found guilty would mean that society as whole would have to look at itself because far too many people didn’t see the racism in what was said so obviously behave in the same manner knowingly or not knowingly that what they are doing is racist and offensive. I’m sick of hearing the term “the race card” because I feel that racism should be called out every time it happens, especially when it happens to people in the media spotlight, its easy for the lines of what is acceptable and what’s not acceptable to be blurred if it isn’t. Ethnic Minorities on the receiving end of offensive racial behaviour should be able to call it out without the fear of being told they are – playing a card. This isn’t a game. And for the record, saying you have ethnic minority friends does not eliminate you and offensive racist language you use from being racist!
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