Racists Complaining About European Black Players Forgot Who Created This Situation

White nationalists rage about diverse World Cup squads while ignoring the colonial history that made them possible

England star Bukayo Saka is of Nigerian descent. (AI generated image by Manny Otiko)

With the World Cup just around the corner, I guarantee you that bigots on both sides of the Atlantic are getting ready to sharpen their pens to write nasty comments about the ethnic makeup of some of the European teams.

The French squad is about 80% Black and North African, and the English starting lineup will feature several players of color, many of them Black or biracial. Even Germany, the home of the world’s most famous white supremacists, is going to feature a squad with several Black players, including one called Leroy who has cornrows. Yes, really. (Leroy Sane’s father is Senegalese, although he was born in Germany.)

Migration is a fact of life, but to white nationalists, it’s a problem. And even white nationalists on this side of the Atlantic have started making comments about this issue. Tucker Carlson, America’s favorite country club neo-Nazi, recently complained about London becoming browner.

Who cares?

Colonialism Created This Reality

European countries used to have colonies. They colonized Africa in the 19th century, carved it up, and influenced those countries, forcing their language and culture on the people. (They also had Caribbean colonies.) That’s why I’m more fluent in English than in Yoruba, the language of my Nigerian ethnic group.

You can recognize which countries colonized parts of Africa by the languages spoken there. Former French colonies speak French, former British colonies speak English, and former Portuguese colonies speak Portuguese. Those cultural influences are still there.

However, when European countries colonized African nations, they incorporated those territories into their empires, which meant people often had pathways to citizenship, education, and migration. As a result, many people from former colonies settled in Europe. That is why you have European countries with substantial Black populations.

We didn’t start this. You guys did. And now you’re mad about it.

And there’s the obvious racial aspect. England captain Harry Kane and vice captain Declan Rice are the descendants of Irish immigrants. However, there is no furor over their ethnicity because they’re white.

Empire Changes The Colonizer Too

Colonialism works both ways. It changes the countries that are colonized, but it also changes the colonizers. When Britain colonized India, it imported tea, which became a mainstay of the British diet. When Nigeria was colonized by Britain, it helped create a large Nigerian community in England that influenced British culture.

As historian Lizzie Collingham wrote in The Taste of Empire, Britain’s empire helped create “the birth of Britain’s global palate.” In other words, colonialism didn’t just change Africa, India and the Caribbean. It changed what British people ate, drank and considered part of their national culture.

Politics Always Invades Sports

Unfortunately, politicians are going to throw their lot into the World Cup because the tournament is made up of nations, and nations are controlled by politicians. Politics has a way of getting into sports.

For example, Black players who played for France once said that when the French prime minister came to their training ground, he made sure he was photographed with only white players standing behind him.

After France’s disastrous showing in the 2010 World Cup, neo-fascist Marine Le Pen blamed divisions within the squad on ethnicity. However, real soccer aficionados know there were huge problems within that team, and most of them were caused by the emotional instability of the coach.

At the time, Raymond Domenech reportedly picked players and made decisions based on astrology. Also, as highlighted in the Netflix documentary On The Bus, he appeared to be dealing with severe mental problems and wrote in his diary about how he hated some of his squad members.

However, it really shouldn’t matter what skin color the player representing your country has, as long as they play well, represent the country honorably and highlight its positive attributes. One of France’s best-ever players is Zinedine Zidane, who is of Algerian descent, and one of England’s best players in the current squad is Bukayo Saka, who is of Nigerian descent.

But remember, when those racist comments come, it wasn’t us who created this situation. We’re part of the legacy of colonialism and empire. The descendants of the colonized are now standing on the same stages as the descendants of the colonizers.

And now some people aren’t happy that the legacy is staring them in the face.

**Buy me a Kofi.**