In an effort to get ready for my upcoming trip, I am using some of my free time (what little there is) to learn more about the country that I am getting ready to visit.  Other than just reading about the history in the many recommended books from my trip coordinator, I am also reading the news that is coming out of South Africa. The following is a news article that considerably piqued my interest.

The Article...
"British field hockey officials have issued a "full and unreserved apology" to the South African women's team for playing an apartheid-era version of the national anthem before a London Cup match on Tuesday.

A version of "Die Stem," the old anthem of a divided South Africa, was played before the team upset fourth-ranked Great Britain in their opening match of the tournament. South African Hockey Association chief executive Marissa Langeni, who wasn't at the match, demanded a full apology after claiming that the original version of "Die Stem," the anthem from 1927 to 1993, was played before the match.  

...A team manager who was in attendance contradicted the chief executive, saying the version played was more of a "mix" between "Die Stem" and "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika," the current anthem. Confusing matters even more is that the current national anthem of South Africa features verses from both songs. They were combined in the 1990s after apartheid was abolished in the African nation. 


"We would like to formally place on record in the strongest terms our disappointment as a country for the administrative blunder in playing the old, divisive anthem of an apartheid South Africa," she wrote.

Officials at the tournament were quick to respond.

"The error was made by a contractor responsible for sports presentation at the event," Sally Munday said later. "Standard procedure would be to check anthems to be played with visiting teams in advance, however, on this occasion that did not happen and Great Britain Hockey accepts full responsibility."

Officials said they would play the correct version before South Africa's match on Wednesday."(yahoo sports)

Reaction...
This story caught my attention, for two reasons.  One, being the issue of the appropriateness of the national anthem for countries with diverse groups of people and the second, being the issue of how sport players of color are discriminated against world wide.  


Though the original anthem sounds very traditional and patriotic, actually quite fitting for a nation at the turn of the previous century.  However it is the newest anthem that I was impressed by.  It is the only neo-modal national anthem in the world. Furthermore,  the lyrics within the anthem are derived from the five most populous of South Africa's eleven official languages - Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza) and English (final stanza). 

South Africa's 11 Official Languages by Region

This fact alone was quite interesting.  How is it that South Africa, in less than thirty years, figured out that it was best to be inclusive (as permissible) of different groups of people? However, in America we still do not have equity even on a nationalistic scale for the largest of the "minority" groups.  Furthermore, we are still squabbling about forcing all immigrants learn english. 


In America, the fight has always been for equity, but somehow "minority" groups settle for slight acts of assimilation instead.  After African-Americans, Women, Hispanics, Native-Americans, etc all had their various movements throughout the twentieth century they won specific goals: voting, access to public rescources, access to jobs, etc. However, at the end of the day, all of these groups still salute the same flag and sing the same out dated, exclusive, sexist and racist national anthem. As beautiful as it sounds and as many nostalgic and patriotic feelings that it stirs up, it is still based on the W.A.S.P model. Many people are unaware that the US national anthem contains 4 verses and takes about 10 minutes to sing in its entirety.  Within these other verses, the positive enforcement of  slavery exists, the ideas of conquering outsiders (both domestic and foreign) is prevalent and the nostalgic American ideals are exhaustively immortalized.

By saying this, it is not my goal to create distention but point out that there have been small victories for all groups yet there are still fundamental issues that are still in place that make equity unattainable for "minority" peoples.


Secondly...
The issue of the wrong national anthem being played draws connections to racial incidents that I have heard about before in the world of sports. The treatment of peoples of African heritage within other sports has been something that I have often heard about.  Just this year, Italy’s Black Player Mario Balotelli was subject to “monkey chants” as he was playing in Poland against Croatia.(Hinterland Gazette) In 2006 during the World cup, “Several of the U.S. team's African-American players who compete professionally in European leagues said they have been targets of discrimination and verbal and even physical abuse because of their race — on and off the field.”(USA Today) 

Although some may like to think that this only occurs in European countries, this is not the case. In 2005, player Leandro Desabato of Argentina was arrested for racially abusing Grafite, a black Brazilian player. (Christian Science Monitor). Furthermore in the Apertura 2006 tournament, audience members made guttural sounds imitating a chimpanzee against Felipe Baloy (who is from Panama) as he scored a goal. During the game, onlookers had also chanted other racial slurs  including chango (monkey) and come platano (banana eater) (Global Voices). 


Some may read and watch about these occurrences and think about their non-affiliation with the world of sports.  Others will quickly think that it has nothing to do with them, after all, this is America, it's 2012, Obama is our President!  


The issue of racism and “misplaced” racial angst is nothing new to people of color, on either side of the Atlantic. In America, we can liken what is going on in Europe and South America to our recent past of racial integration of sporting leagues after WWII.  However, full equality has still not been attained.  This can be seen in numerous examples within this past decade:

• 2002, when it was controversial for Ty Willingham and Tony Dungy to be head coaches (ESPN)
• 2003, when Kobe Bryant was accused of raping a Caucasian woman and was subsequently assumed to be guilty as “African-American males . . . have been identified and construed as the typical rapist.” During slavery and long after, women's claims of rape went unquestioned and alleged rapists who were black would be summarily executed. (Coughlin)
• 2003, Dusty Baker stated that "black and Hispanic players are better suited to playing in the sun and heat than white players." Dusty, defending his beliefs, later said, "What I meant is that blacks and Latinos take the heat better than most whites, and whites take the cold better than most blacks and Latinos. That's it, pure and simple. Nothing deeper than that." (USA Today)
• 2004, when Paul Hornung said that Notre Dame, to lower its academic standards so that more African-American athletes might be admitted (ESPN)

"...Race matters in all US sports, for example, golf, NASCAR, NHL, MLB, NBA, college sports, ownership, management and so on....Every inch of American sports has a "race elephant" in the room. Tiger Woods is the only African American pro golfer of note. The Williams sisters are the only African American pro tennis players (male or female) of note. No African Americans drive NASCAR - a sport that takes little skill. Michael Jordan of basketball fame is the only majority owner of a basketball team, a sport in which the majority of players are African American." (Professor of Sociology Earl Smith from Wake Forest University in North Carolina) 

It is not only people of African decent, but other groups that also suffer from the same racist ideas.  Jeremy Lin has also been  subjected to racist commentary, from his peers as well as outsiders. 

"Everywhere he plays, Lin is the target of cruel taunts. ‘It's everything you can imagine,’ he says. ‘Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian.’ Even at the Ivy League gyms? ‘I've heard it at most of the Ivies if not all of them,’ he says. ... According to Harvard teammate Oliver McNally, another Ivy League player called him a C word that rhymes with ink during a game last season. On Dec. 23, during Harvard's 86-70 loss to Georgetown in Washington, McNally says, one spectator yelled ‘Sweet-and-sour pork!’ from the stands." (Time Magazine)

We, the public, are also quite aware (at least I would prefer to believe) of the ongoing controversy concerning racialized sporting mascots. What is interesting in that rehlm, is that there does seem to be a little more attention to correct the offensive images. 

In 2005, The NCAA attempted to bar Indian mascots by individual schools. However due to political pressure, they decided to ban the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams during postseason tournaments. (ESPN)

Even more recently, two years ago (2010), Sen. Suzanne Williams from Colorado  introduced a bill that would have required all public and charter high schools in Colorado seek approval from the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs to make sure that the mascot was accountable and respectful. She told the media, "I introduced this bill because I feel very strongly that we need a conversation about the subtle discrimination between races and cultures." However, after much local political pressure the measure was dropped because the Colorado Indian Education Foundation plans to work with schools that have Indian mascots. "I fervently believe we can build on our knowledge and expand our appreciation of our Native American ancestors," said Williams, who is one-quarter Comanche.(Denver Post)

What does this have to do with education?
Rather than rant about it and continue to provide numerous examples about racism in the world of sports, I would rather like to spend time thinking about how people of color, should address these entrenched ideas and educate themselves as well as others.  

Obviously, the first thing that  would and can be said would be to promote awareness about the racial angst within the world of sports and to participate in campaigns toward tolerance. 

However, tolerance is just that. Tolerance.  So, how can real change be made?  One way that this issue is being addressed is in the 4th International Conference on Sport, Race and Ethnicity, which will be held at the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 27 – 30, 2012.  This confrence will feature speakers from Asia, America, New Zealand and Europe. “This is a hugely significant year for sport in the UK with many of the world’s leading athletes descending on London for the Olympic Games. These mega-events create an opportunity to interrogate issues of race and ethnicity in modern sport." (Unv of Ulster) By starting a real international and local conversation about race we can then begin to deconstruct such angst against "minorities". 


Back to South Africa...

Needless to say after all of the hubub about "Die Stem" being played before the field hockey game in London, the South African team beat Great Britain 3-1 in an upset. So, like the team, it is my hope that we the spectators can do as they did and maintain our composure and dignity as we engage in working toward equity in our respective nations as well as abroad.

Ukuvalelisa!

take leave from, say goodbye