By Andrew Warshaw
March 22 – Kevin-Prince Boateng, the Italian-based footballer who made headlines by famously taking his AC Milan teammates off the pitch in protest at racism, has described it a “dangerous disease” with no easy cure.
The German-born Ghanaian was one of the main guests at the United Nations-organised International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva and warned that racism remains a genuine problem in the 21st century.
“It’s not simply an argument for the history channel or something that belongs to the past or something that only happens in other countries. Racism is real, it exists here and now,” said Boateng who compared fighting racism with containing malaria.
“There is no vaccine to fight this and no antibiotics to take. It’s a dangerous and infectious virus which is strengthened by indifference and inaction. When I played for Ghana, I learned how to fight malaria. Simple vaccines are not enough. You also have to dry out infected areas where the carriers proliferate. I think that racism and malaria have a lot in common. If we don’t fight the stagnation, many of those who are healthy today, could become infected with one of the most dangerous diseases of our time.”
Boateng made his stand in January after receiving abuse during Milan’s winter break friendly at lower-league Pro Patria. The match was abandoned after the Rossoneri players walked off. The AC Milan midfielder was invited to the UN’s European headquarters by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay.
Speaking about his groundbreaking walkoff, Boateng, due to meet Fifa President Sepp Blatter today (Friday), recalled: “I decided to stop the game and kick the ball into the stands as I felt profoundly angry and offended by the racist insults directed at me. That gesture alone would not have had any particular resonance. My teammates, however, immediately followed me off the pitch without a moment’s hesitation.”
Pillay said racist insults and chants and Nazi salutes had no place in sports. “Sport, at its best, is inclusive, generous-hearted, and fundamentally multicultural, based on values such as teamwork, loyalty, merit and self-control,” she told the forum. “There must be accountability for racist offenses.”
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