Lilian Thuram has always stood out in the fight against racism.
For this reason, it is not at all strange that the former Barça player did not hesitate for a moment when it came to breaking
a spear in favor of Vinicius
, no matter how much the Brazilian is one of the banners of the eternal rival, Real Madrid.
From his point of view, nothing justifies the striker receiving this type of attack.
«We are talking about a player who is a victim of racism and you ask me if he should change his attitude?
Above all, you have to respect Vinicius.
Many times people do not understand the violence that racism entails
.
When you are young and they insult you, it is something very difficult for anyone", reflected the former Barcelona player after the presentation of
the Sport and Racism award
, focused on university degree end projects and awarded in collaboration between his own foundation and that of Barcelona, as well as his book
El pensamiento blanco
, in which he delves into his reflections on this issue.
«I arrived in Paris when I was nine years old, from the Antilles.
I often say that
I turned black at the age of nine
, because that was when the children insulted me in class," said the former French international.
«In my book I draw a parallel between racism and sexism.
Men are educated to think that we are the norm
, while women are the different ones, the inferior ones.
There is no need to feel attacked when talking about sexism or racism, because we are not talking about people individually, but about what this fact represents.
Many think that one can be neutral and neutrality does not exist in this case," Thuram stressed.
"Sexism gives men the right to kill women.
Racism gives institutions the right to kill black people.
In America, every day there are incidents of people getting killed.
Superiority is reflected when you believe you have the right to kill others », he insisted.
"Racism is an economic system, and any economic system builds a discourse to defend its existence," said the Frenchman, who is very confident in the role of education to fight against this scourge.
«If a child has posters of players of different colors, of different religions, he will not have these prejudices.
We must accept that racism exists and do our job.
As a rule,
black men are denied intellectual capacities.
That's why I stressed to my kids that they need to know that it's the racists who have a problem, not them.
It is very important that people understand the history of racism and sexism to understand that each of us is biased.
It is not about thinking that the racist or the sexist are dangerous, we all have things that we need to change, "he said.
At the current Barca level, meanwhile, he wanted to emphasize his confidence in
Xavi Hernández
's project and also highlighted the role of two of his compatriots:
Ousmane Dembélé
and
Jules Koundé
.
«Ousmane's career has gone in a hurry.
He played one year at Rennes and another at Dortmund before coming to Barça and it is normal that now, at the age of 25, he is more important and decisive.
It is something natural, “he said about the striker.
«I like Koundé a lot as a player.
When he started to stand out in France, they said that he couldn't be a very good defender because he was neither very tall nor very fast, but he is very intelligent.
And that is what, over the years, will make it even stronger », he highlighted about the central defender.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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Vinicius Junior
Ousmane Dembele
Real Madrid
Racism
FC Barcelona