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2:27:00 PM EDT
Thuran Speaks
There’s been a significant amount of attention paid to the issue of racism at this World Cup. The New York Times had a lengthy page one article on June 3, just prior to the start of the Cup, on the surge of racism in Europe and how it might affect the cup. The European press has given the issue more of an airing than have American media, and gave substantial attention to France and Spain’s round of 16 match, due to racist comments Spanish coach Luis Aragones had made about star Frenchman, Thierry Henry, during a friendly in 2004. In its world cup preview, ESPN.com discussed Aragones’ comments as well as those of Ukraine’s coach Oleg Bakhin, who delicately ruminated on available role models for Ukrainian kids given the influx of new talent into Ukrainian soccer thusly: “Let them learn from [our players] and not some Zumba-Bumba whom they took off a tree, gave two bananas and now he plays in the Ukrainian league."
FIFA itself has made combating racism a signature feature of its public relations during these Finals.
But, the most eloquent statements about racism have come from French player Lilian Thuran, in response to recent comments by France’s best known racist politician, Jean Marie Le Pen. In a perfect world, guys like Le Pen would not get any ink at all. But, Le Pen was the runner-up in France’s most recent presidential elections in 2002, and he’s been a prominent politician in that country for two decades. Recently, Le Pen complained that France "cannot recognise itself in the national side" and that "maybe the coach exaggerated the proportion of players of colour and should have been a bit more careful.”
Thuran is himself from Guadalupe, one of the sixteen non-white players on the 23-man French squad. The remarks are old news for Le Pen. He similarly criticized the 1998 team that won the World Cup, notwithstanding the jubilation and feelings of national pride and national unity that that team brought to the country.
As quoted by the Guardian(http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1809453,00.html#article_continue) on Friday (via Deadspin), Thuran said in response:
“What can I say about Monsieur Le Pen?...Clearly, he is unaware that there are Frenchmen who are black, Frenchmen who are white, Frenchmen who are brown. I think that reflects particularly badly on a man who has aspirations to be president of France but yet clearly doesn't know anything about French history or society.
"That's pretty serious. He's the type of person who'd turn on the television and see the American basketball team and wonder: 'Hold on, there are black people playing for America? What's going on?'
"When we take to the field, we do so as Frenchmen. All of us. When people were celebrating our win, they were celebrating us as Frenchmen, not black men or white men. It doesn't matter if we're black or not, because we're French. I've just got one thing to say to Jean Marie Le Pen. The French team are all very, very proud to be French. If he's got a problem with us, that's down to him but we are proud to represent this country. So Vive la France, but the true France. Not the France that he wants."
Equally impressive, Thuran seemed to grasp what was at stake politically in Le Pen’s comments, as he prepares again to contest the presidency in 2007:
“Maybe we should invite Monsieur Le Pen to celebrate our next victory with us. Then he'd see that we are fiercely proud to be French and he might change his mind. Actually, he's got too much to lose by changing his mind, hasn't he?"
Thuran’s comment reminds me of a quote by Upton Sinclair, related in An Inconvenient Truth:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
Highly accomplished international soccer player and astute political observer – that’s a neat trick.
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