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Tony Evans observes in The Independent: Divock Origi banner: Forget the result in Genk – last night was another bleak night for Liverpool Football Club.
Every week seems to bring a new low in the legitimising of racism in everyday life. Football, as the biggest expression of working-class culture in Britain, plays a huge part in this normalisation of hatred.

Last night in Genk a banner in the Liverpool end featured a caricature of Divock Origi with a huge penis. It was taken down before the match and the club were rightly furious. The response on social media by too many supporters was to suggest that it was merely a play on the striker’s name. The very idea is appalling.

One of the underpinning features of racism is a fear of black men’s sexuality. It was a huge factor in the wave of lynchings that swept through America after the Civil War and way into the 20th century. The NAACP, one of the most significant organisations in the battle for civil rights in the US and an important movement for social justice to this day, says, “Whites started lynching because they felt it was necessary to protect white women.”

Black men are frequently sexualised in an animalistic manner. There is a deep, ingrained fear in bigots that they will “corrupt” the “white race” through miscegenation. It is not about rape or assault. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old, was hanged by a mob in Mississippi in 1955 for supposedly whistling at a white woman. The suggestion that black men have a dangerous sexuality has been one of the most corrosive components in race relations. It is a deep, dangerous notion that is lodged in the subconscious of many people. Those who seek to excuse it betray their innate racism.

Continue reading @ The Independent.

Genk - Another Bleak Night For Liverpool Football Club

Tony Evans observes in The Independent: Divock Origi banner: Forget the result in Genk – last night was another bleak night for Liverpool Football Club.
Every week seems to bring a new low in the legitimising of racism in everyday life. Football, as the biggest expression of working-class culture in Britain, plays a huge part in this normalisation of hatred.

Last night in Genk a banner in the Liverpool end featured a caricature of Divock Origi with a huge penis. It was taken down before the match and the club were rightly furious. The response on social media by too many supporters was to suggest that it was merely a play on the striker’s name. The very idea is appalling.

One of the underpinning features of racism is a fear of black men’s sexuality. It was a huge factor in the wave of lynchings that swept through America after the Civil War and way into the 20th century. The NAACP, one of the most significant organisations in the battle for civil rights in the US and an important movement for social justice to this day, says, “Whites started lynching because they felt it was necessary to protect white women.”

Black men are frequently sexualised in an animalistic manner. There is a deep, ingrained fear in bigots that they will “corrupt” the “white race” through miscegenation. It is not about rape or assault. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old, was hanged by a mob in Mississippi in 1955 for supposedly whistling at a white woman. The suggestion that black men have a dangerous sexuality has been one of the most corrosive components in race relations. It is a deep, dangerous notion that is lodged in the subconscious of many people. Those who seek to excuse it betray their innate racism.

Continue reading @ The Independent.

Liverpool FC Racism The Independent

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