By Jugraj Singh
There is a saying about the exploitation of black slaves in the US, “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.” A similar saying can be made regarding FIFA 2022, “the blacker the team, the higher the probability of winning.”
Unfortunately, this saying mostly only applies to western, white-majority countries, with some exceptions such as Enner Valencia, the black player who is the highest scorer for brown-majority Ecuador. The national teams of most African countries are too poor and resource-deficient to make their players as skilled as the African origin players who live in western countries. For example, Kylian Mbappe has Cameroonian and Nigerian heritage. Had he lived in and played for the national team of one of these two countries, he may never have been as highly-skilled as he is due to living in and playing for a First World country.
Louis Farrakhan, Leader of the Nation of Islam, explained a white slave owner belief about the natural professions of blacks (which were acceptable to slave owners) which became a slogan: “N—-r run, N—-r jump, N—-r sing or N—-r die.” Black athletes (Blathletes) and Black entertainers should be sympathized with as they are doing only what they must to survive, according to the slave owner way of thinking. The term Blathlete is a tribute to Love Blactually, the first episode of season seven of Family Guy.
My views on the Black Lives Matter movement are that economics are above race. Being rich and black can be forgiven by the establishment, whereas being poor and black cannot. The lives of two famous and rich black boxing champions, George Foreman (net worth $200 million) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (net worth between $560 million and $1 billion) matter, and the life of track legend Flo Jo Florence Griffith-Joyner (net worth $1.8 million) did matter to the establishment; tragically, the life of a poor black man, Geo Flo George Floyd did not (he died because he did not have $20.00 to pay for groceries).
A better and more racially accurate name for Les Bleus is Les Noir. France has a black population of 5%, Canada and England have a black population of 3.5%, yet like other countries of the west (USA, Belgium, and the Netherlands, for example), the way to FIFA victory was planned by going with a team comprised of disproportionately black players.
History repeats itself and the poor west did not learn much from the Vietnam War. French imperialists suffered a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu and left the country for the US to try and win. The US also used the formula of using black soldiers disproportionately in the infantry. Blacks comprised 12% of America’s population during the Vietnam War, but 25% of the enlisted men in the US Army were black, 16.3% of the armed forces were black, and 12.4% of the total causalities were suffered by black soldiers. Eerily similar to the lack of blacks in positions of authority in sports, only 2% of officers across all branches in Vietnam were black. Just as the Afro-French came up short in the FIFA Final, the Afro-American soldiers could not help America avoid defeat in Vietnam.
It was a common practice of white slave owners to give their last names to black slaves. The West should remember this and attempt to do a better job of giving black players white-sounding stage names. Canadian FIFA 2022 Squad Blathlete names such as Ike Ugbo, Alphonso Davies, Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan, Ismael Kone, Atiba Hutchinson, Richie Laryea, Kamal Miller, Derek Cornelius, and Samuel Adekugbe, could be replaced with a more white, Canadian and Christian sounding first and last name, such as Justin Trudeau.
French FIFA 2022 Squad Blathlete names such as Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Dayot Upamecano, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Randal Kolo Muani, Kingsley Coman, Wesley Fofana, Jules Kounde, Paul Pogba, Ferland Mendy, Anthony Martial, N’Golo Kante, and Ibrahima Konaté could be replaced with a more white, French and Christian sounding first and last name, such as Emmanuel Macron. The first time I remember seeing a French blathlete was during FIFA 1998. The commentators kept discussing a fellow by the name of, what sounded like T-erry Onree (Thierry Henry).
There is a video on Inside Football’s YouTube channel which shows President Macron celebrating the goals scored during the FIFA 2022 World Cup Final, titled France President Macron All Crazy Reactions to Mbappe Messi Goals in World Cup Final! Watching Macron’s reactions was reminiscent of Django Unchained’s Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), the slave owner and owner of the Candyland plantation, who sadistically enjoyed organizing and watching mixed martial arts fights between slaves. The most disgusting fight ending happens when Candie hands a hammer to the winning slave Big Fred and watches Big Fred hammer the other slave to death. It is interesting to see the reactions of the Arab Sheikhs who are seated near Macron. None of them share Macron’s enthusiasm while a few applaud diplomatically at the goals. The funniest part is during the penalty shootout, the Sheikhs celebrate when the French players miss, and the best part is when some Sheikhs jump to their feet in celebration after Gonzalo Montiel scores the winning goal. One can only imagine the humiliation President Macron felt as he watched France lose live at Lusail Stadium and had to congratulate a winning Third World Country.
It is ironical and unfortunate that white players in white-majority western countries are discriminated against, by white coaches, managers and owners, especially when these same western countries claim to be champions of human rights. Perhaps the take home message is that the rights of white people don’t qualify for human rights or white human rights are denied for the sake of winning sports?
Going by present trends, the FIFA teams of the west, desperate for winning, will continue to become even more disproportionately darker-skinned than they already are, and FIFA will go the way the NBA, NFL and UFC have gone.
Argentina’s win over France in FIFA 2022 is a resounding victory for the Third World and a defeat for Imperialist countries, much like the wars of Algeria and Vietnam. It is an interesting fact that Alfred Sauvy, a French scientist, coined the term “Tiers Monde” (Third World) in 1952. It is ironical that, 70 years later, France was defeated by a Third World country. Even more ironical is that France’s FIFA defeat comes 60 years after losing the Algerian War (1962). Lionel Messi was voted as best player and rightly awarded the FIFA World Cup 2022 Golden Ball, if such an award existed in wars, legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap certainly deserved it for his role in France’s humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Viva El Tercer Mundo!
