Racism isn't just a US problem....
...It's also a Spanish problem.
On Tuesday, they were showing the France v. Spain game on a big screen in Sol, a big central plaza close to us. I convinced Amy that we should go see the last ten minutes of the game - we left when it was still 1-1, but arrived as the plaza just as France scored its second goal.
After France won, on the way home, Spanish fans chanted "Hijo de puta" and then something else I didn't quite catch. But when our French roommate came home and she was telling us how downright nasty some people were to her and her friends, I realized that the bit I didn't understand was actually some pretty racist comments against Henry, France's black player.
It's really depressing - because the U.S. addresses its minority issues (in the research I've been doing, only U.S. MBA programs keep stats of their % minority students), it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that our racial issues are much worse than in Europe. But I think they're actually better - or at least we have a much better public debate on it.
On Tuesday, they were showing the France v. Spain game on a big screen in Sol, a big central plaza close to us. I convinced Amy that we should go see the last ten minutes of the game - we left when it was still 1-1, but arrived as the plaza just as France scored its second goal.
After France won, on the way home, Spanish fans chanted "Hijo de puta" and then something else I didn't quite catch. But when our French roommate came home and she was telling us how downright nasty some people were to her and her friends, I realized that the bit I didn't understand was actually some pretty racist comments against Henry, France's black player.
It's really depressing - because the U.S. addresses its minority issues (in the research I've been doing, only U.S. MBA programs keep stats of their % minority students), it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that our racial issues are much worse than in Europe. But I think they're actually better - or at least we have a much better public debate on it.