Pope to Soccer Fans: 'Stop Being Racist'

Photo via Flickr user Aleteia Image Department

Welcome to another edition of This Week in Racism. I’ll be ranking news stories on a scale of one to RACIST, with “one” being the least racist and “RACIST” being the most racist.

–The FIFA World Cup is one of the few global events that truly engages people across all socioeconomic backgrounds. The sport of soccer is played in practically every country. People live—and sometimes die—for the game. Very few human endeavors (at least the ones where you're not naked) engender quite so much passion. Unfortunately, that emotion often gets channeled into less than savory modes of expression. Sports of all kinds are about "us versus them," but soccer, more than any other, breeds sectarian, racial, and nationalist conflict. Israel's national team plays in the European confederation—UEFA—because if they were to compete against fellow Middle Eastern nations like Iraq, Lebanon, or Jordan, there would surely be violence.

The relatively homogeneous nations of Europe have also struggled with the racial diversity that is inherent in the global soccer community. If you want the best players in your country's domestic league, you're going to be stuck with some Africans, Arabs, and Mexicans. Even while knowing this, racism is inescapable in world soccer. Mario Balotelli, the mercurial striker for AC Milan, has bounced from club to club in his career, but wherever he goes, racist chants seem to follow. One of England's greatest players, Chelsea star John Terry, had his career tarnished over allegations that he lobbed racist abuse at fellow England player Anton Ferdinand. Despite attempts by various soccer governing bodies to repair the damage, the situation doesn't appear to be improving swiftly.

Pope Francis, the immensely popular figurehead of the Catholic Church, used the occasion of the World Cup to speak out about racial tension in the sport in a video address. A soccer fan himself, Francis said, "To win, we must overcome individualism, selfishness, all forms of racism, intolerance, and manipulation of people. Let nobody turn their back on society and feel excluded! No to segregation! No to racism!"

Soccer is a global sport. Hopefully the fans and players of this beautiful game start acting like it. 1

–Back in the good-old Yankee blue-jeans USA, elderly lunatic Donald Sterling has finally settled on the most "on-brand" course of action possible for the impending sale of the Los Angeles Clippers: He's suing the NBA. He wants the lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine levied against him for his racist comments to be wiped out. He wants to keep his team. He probably also wants NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to hold his dick while he pees. Let's just say Donald Sterling has a lot of demands. The Associated Press is also reporting that Sterling has hired private investigators to dig up dirt on the other 29 NBA owners. Here's to hoping the Boston Celtics owners are found to have some weird True Detective Carcosa cult and the NBA blows up the franchise forever. 7

–What's a boy to do when he's caught saying racist things when there's no one to sue? Get baptized, obviously. Billboard magazine is reporting that Justin Bieber has been going to church since TMZ released video tapes that show him saying "nigger" repeatedly. Beebs has even taken that one step further and was baptized in the bathtub of one of his friends in New York City. Nothing washes the stench of racism off like a quickie baptism. Hopefully, he can also wash off those dumbass tattoos. 5

The Most Racist Tweets of the Week:

wow I would go nigger hunting I was there rn

— (@anthoon_e) June 13, 2014

I will no longer be afraid to say NIGGER! A word that's been in the English dictionary for decades now! #LetMeSayNigger

— SLATER (@CurveMe) June 13, 2014

Why can a rapper say nigger on the radio but I can't say nigger? Because of my skin tone? #LetMeSayNigger

— SLATER (@CurveMe) June 13, 2014

#letmesaynigger why dose anyone care about the word nigger?

— ~ (@anabby_) June 13, 2014

because i am black i am free to say nigger without repercussions, yet my otherskinned brethren are PUNISHED???? INJUSTICE #letmesaynigger

— موباwalmartbronyسرقو (@RippleFrog) June 13, 2014

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