I WANT YOU to imagine yourself standing on stage in front of hundreds of people. Now imagine while you’re on that stage, someone hurls a deeply offensive insult that has historically brought harm to your community.
How would you feel? Even if they didn’t mean it, or weren’t able to control themselves in saying it, think for a moment, how degrading would that feel?
This is what happened when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the Baftas to present the first award of the night. John Davidson, a man with Tourette’s syndrome, shouted the N-word while they were presenting.
Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson could be heard shouting as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented an award YouTube
YouTube
They looked momentarily confused before professionally continuing to do what they were up there to do. Now, if you’re like me, you don’t blame John Davidson at all. As a black man, the N word is deeply offensive to me and has been used many times to hurt me or belittle me.
However, I can reconcile in my mind that this man was not able to control what he was saying. I don’t think John Davidson is a racist; in fact, he sounds like a really nice man. I believe that just Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were able to reconcile these conflicting thoughts while they were on the stage.
Dottie Achenbach and John Davidson at the Baftas. Davidson, who lives with Tourettes Syndrome, has since said that he is ‘mortified’ by the event. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
What I can’t come to grips with is how the N-word was allowed to be broadcast to millions of viewers when the ceremony was pre-recorded.
Racism in sport
Let’s take a quick detour for a second. I want you to also imagine having the opportunity to represent your country in your chosen sport. To pull on a green jersey and go out and perform to the best of your abilities for your nation. A nation you’ve grown up in and called home your whole life. Imagine the pride you would feel.
Now imagine you open up your phone following the game, expecting to see lots of congratulations. Instead, you see thousands of insults coming your way because of the colour of your skin. How deflating would that be? This is what Ireland’s Edwin Edogbo had to deal with recently.
Ireland’s Edwin Edogbo made his Ireland debut, but there were racist online posts after the game, condemned by the IRFU. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
The reason why I ask you to imagine those things is that this is what sports stars, athletes, people in media and artists of colour experience, on a near daily basis now.
It is clear to me that racism in sports and in culture is rising. This is a terrible thing for a number of reasons. Black and Brown people across the globe contribute so much to sports and culture. They enrich all of our lives with what they do. They should be celebrated for what they love.
They should be able to celebrate a goal and be a little bit excited about it, like Vinicius Junior was when he scored against Benfica in the Champions League. Instead, he faced an alleged incident of racism from an opposing player.
Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior argues with Benfica’s head coach José Mourinho after scoring the opening goal during a Champions League playoff. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
We are blessed with the emerging calibre of sports stars in this country. Recently, we had Rashidat Adeleke smash her own 300-metre indoor record. We had Bori Akinola break the indoor 60-metre record. The Edogbo brothers, Sean and Edwin, made their debuts for Munster and Ireland, respectively. We also had Robert Balocoune and Cormac Izuchukwu make their Six Nations debuts, with Balocoune scoring tries against Italy and England.
Pushing back
Diversity is present in our sports; what we need is equality, inclusion and above all, acceptance. Despite the discrimination these athletes are facing, they are continuing to break records, break tackles, break lines and break barriers.
I think the IRFU was also really strong in its response to the ugliness that Edwin Edogbo faced, and all sporting bodies must take note of how racism should be combated in sport.
A mural honouring Dublin Olympic athlete Rhasidat Adeleke on Chatham Row, created by street artist @canvaz_streetart.
With racist incidents happening more in sports and culture, a strong response must be given by those of us in the anti-racist camp. Racism must be stamped out of every sector of our society. Sport and Culture are really important in this fight. These are areas of our society which naturally bring us all together despite the colour of our skin, our religion, who we love, what we look like or where we’re from.
It would be a tragedy for these athletes, personalities or artists to fall out of love with what they’re doing because of the racism they have to endure, and the ones that would suffer in the long run are all of us missing out on them achieving their highest levels.
If these spaces are truly for all of us, then racism must be met, every single time, with consequences, courage and collective refusal.
Governing bodies must go beyond statements. Social media companies need to get their houses in order and not platform hate. Broadcasters must be vigilant not to allow harmful words to go out on air. Future generations are watching us, and they will see what we tolerate and what we do not. For me, intolerance can never be tolerated.
Leon Diop is a mixed race man from Tallaght. He is the founder of the voluntary organisation Black and Irish. He is an author and host of the Black and Irish podcast. He currently serves on the board of the Childhood Development Initiative, Tallaght and Work Equal. He also serves as the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for the Arts Council of Ireland.
