RACE TO WIN?
Football is life, some say.
In La Liga,
It’s either Los Culés or Los Blancos.
So, who will win the race?
We who love the game
Keep our eyes on the prize.
Week in and week out,
It’s a commitment for life—
Yes, that’s what’s at stake.
Los Culés o Los Blancos.
At the Bernabéu two years ago,
Selective monkey chants mocked the winning players:
Ansu, Rafa, and Lamine…
Last night, under the bright lights of the Estádio da Luz,
It was Vinícius again.
Vini, again and again.
In the end, it is all the same.
This story has a history
It began, around the time of slavery.
Do you remember how often they used to throw bananas at Black players?
Or how the chants of “puta”
Were hurled against Shakira and women they despised?
We all must remember the walk-off by Eto’o and others,
All doing their bit—
But it still remains the same.
Often it’s on the pitch,
But more off than on.
The fans fan the flames of racist fury.
The ball is in our court,
‘Cause it is not on the pitch, but off it.
‘Tis there where it thrives,
‘Tis where they connive.
And when they need someone to blame,
It’s always the same: blame the Negros.
Us, darkies.
European football has a race problem.
Europe has a race problem.
While the patriarchs in charge pretend equality,
They do little to stop the sexual oppression of women
And those who are different.
FIFA cannot solve it with this current lot of leaders
Even with their newly appointed anti-racism czar.
The UN is equally useless—it could not save UNRWA.
FIFA is a dead rubber ball.
It does nothing, yet it has created a “FIFA Peace Prize”
For the Racist-in-Chief.
The ball is in our court;
It is not on the pitch.
As I end, I recall what Big Bill Shankly once said:
“Football is much more than a matter of life and death.”
But in its current form, it will die
Unless it is rescued from the manufacturers of hate and profits.
We must reclaim our glory as the inheritors of many civilizations.
What Vini teaches us is that this fight is for, and from each one of us.
We have no option but to fight; then we can proudly proclaim:
“Veni, vidi, vici”
“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
We have nothing to lose and a world to win,
And we must begin with one undeniable fact of life:
There is only one race…
The human race.