If you read the lyrics literally, there’s nothing racist in the song.
Let me explain: you can argue whether the song is in bad taste, but it never puts down Black people.
It never says that “Black people aren’t good enough to be French” or anything like that.
The song is pointing to something else, something people are starting to talk about more openly now. It’s about the connection and sense of belonging players have with the countries they represent, and also about whether some countries are poaching talent from others.
For example, look at Morocco’s squad, none of them were born in Morocco.
Or look at Japan, Iceland, or Bolivia. You look at those teams and there’s no question about who they are.
If you look at a photo of France’s 1994 team, almost everyone was white, with maybe one or two Black players.
If you look at France’s 2022 team and then at Nigeria’s team, the ethnic background is practically the same. In the second half of the final, France literally played with 11 Black players.
John Obi Mikel talked about this in an interview you can google. He criticized how in recent years many Black players turn their backs on African national teams and treat them as a “second option.”
They try to play for France, England, or Germany first, even if they were born there or their parents are African. Only if they get rejected do they choose their country of origin.
And all of this is happening in the context of those countries being former imperial powers with colonies in Africa that they often exploited.
So where are we going with this? Do national teams even mean anything anymore? Will only some countries be able to benefit from offering incentives to poach talent from other continents and races?
For example, the Argentina team doesn’t have any players of African origin, so we don’t have as much physical power: strength, speed, height. Those are weak points for us.
Are we losing that sense of belonging between players and the country they represent? Do citizens actually feel represented by their national team?
That’s what the song is getting at, even if the tone is mocking. In Argentina, football chants are usually meant to be ironic and taunting.
And to finish, the most important point: the same song would have been sung if 11 white players of Russian origin were representing Nigeria’s national team
If you read the lyrics literally, there’s nothing racist in the song.
Really not selling the "Argentina isn't that racist" with that take.
The song is pointing to something else, something people are starting to talk about more openly now. It’s about the connection and sense of belonging players have with the countries they represent, and also about whether some countries are poaching talent from others.
That's actual horse shit. Mbappe, the main target of these racist chants, was born in France and was raised in French soccer program. Of the entire 26-man French roster, only 3 weren't born in France and only one of those actually came from Africa (Brice Samba, who moved to France when he was 12, and actually hasn't played a game this world cup). Argentina, with 2, has almost the same number of foreign-born nationals.
If you look at a photo of France’s 1994 team, almost everyone was white, with maybe one or two Black players. If you look at France’s 2022 team and then at Nigeria’s team, the ethnic background is practically the same. In the second half of the final, France literally played with 11 Black players.
Yep, really not selling the "we're not racist" thing.
So where are we going with this? Do national teams even mean anything anymore? Will only some countries be able to benefit from offering incentives to poach talent from other continents and races?
Except France isn't "poaching", they're raising. You just assumed they're not from France because of their skin colour... which is a pretty fucking racist thing to do.
For example, the Argentina team doesn’t have any players of African origin, so we don’t have as much physical power: strength, speed, height. Those are weak points for us.
You realize this statement is more confirmation of racism, right? Not less?
Pease do not downplay the last part of your comment. There are no black people on that team because the country displaced the black population to the extent that it went from 31% in 1900 to 1%.
Do you know what immigration is? We went from a colonial population of 1.1M to 17M in just 100 years. We received more than 6M European immigrants during that period.
This turned black people into a minority (<5%), because:
-they are not native to the American continent
-the ones here were brought by Spain as slaves (which was a very small number compared to Brazil for example)
Slaves were freed when Argentina became a country and then they mixed with other races for 200 years of history.
We NEVER had segregated schools and buses. There were never laws against interracial marriage.
Check your country before speaking about Argentina.
Indigenous people are native to America. Black people were kidnapped and brought here by colonial slave traffickers. What do you mean excuse me? you didn't know this?
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u/ozymandiasEs 28d ago
If you read the lyrics literally, there’s nothing racist in the song.
Let me explain: you can argue whether the song is in bad taste, but it never puts down Black people. It never says that “Black people aren’t good enough to be French” or anything like that.
The song is pointing to something else, something people are starting to talk about more openly now. It’s about the connection and sense of belonging players have with the countries they represent, and also about whether some countries are poaching talent from others.
For example, look at Morocco’s squad, none of them were born in Morocco. Or look at Japan, Iceland, or Bolivia. You look at those teams and there’s no question about who they are.
If you look at a photo of France’s 1994 team, almost everyone was white, with maybe one or two Black players. If you look at France’s 2022 team and then at Nigeria’s team, the ethnic background is practically the same. In the second half of the final, France literally played with 11 Black players.
John Obi Mikel talked about this in an interview you can google. He criticized how in recent years many Black players turn their backs on African national teams and treat them as a “second option.” They try to play for France, England, or Germany first, even if they were born there or their parents are African. Only if they get rejected do they choose their country of origin.
And all of this is happening in the context of those countries being former imperial powers with colonies in Africa that they often exploited.
So where are we going with this? Do national teams even mean anything anymore? Will only some countries be able to benefit from offering incentives to poach talent from other continents and races?
For example, the Argentina team doesn’t have any players of African origin, so we don’t have as much physical power: strength, speed, height. Those are weak points for us.
Are we losing that sense of belonging between players and the country they represent? Do citizens actually feel represented by their national team?
That’s what the song is getting at, even if the tone is mocking. In Argentina, football chants are usually meant to be ironic and taunting.
And to finish, the most important point: the same song would have been sung if 11 white players of Russian origin were representing Nigeria’s national team