Imagine, as a Black person, being called a monkey at your place of work. What should your appropriate reaction be?

I witnessed the most incredible thing on television the other day. A Real Madrid player scores what I think is the goal of the season. He runs to the flag and does a shimmy and dance, as soccer players often do. When he comes back, a player on the opposition team, shirt over his mouth, allegedly calls him a monkey. The scorer runs to the referee to report it, backed by his teammates. The referee has to halt the game temporarily. Chaos.

Background: The match was Benfica vs. Real Madrid in Portugal. The scorer is Vinicius Jr., the Black Brazilian who’s faced racial abuse in Europe since joining Real Madrid. The alleged racist is Gianluca Prestianni, a 20-year-old Argentine of Italian descent (born 2006—let that sink in).

Benfica’s coach, José Mourinho—who calls himself a father to many Black African players like Salomon Kalou, Michael Essien, and Didier Drogba—defended his team. He bought Prestianni’s denial (“I said ‘hermano,’ not ‘mono’”) and blamed Vinicius for celebrating “obscenely” in front of the opposition crowd. The coach asked an incredulous question: "Why does it happen to this player?" Stupidly negating the fact that there have been 20 criminal cases opened on fans racially abusing this very player.

What bullshit!

Viewers saw the glaring truth: groups in Benfica colors making monkey gestures with their hands, mimicking sounds, and jeering when Vinicius and other Black players neared the touchline. Objects were thrown at them, from water and beer bottles to vapes. Yet UEFA’s cameras and audiovisual teams avoided zooming in throughout the game. Why? Referees ignored Real Madrid players pointing at racist chants in the stands.

Vinicius was besieged by players and coaches as the pressure was on the 25-year-old to decide whether to walk off or carry on with the game. In front of thousands in the stadium and millions watching at home. But who protected him during this chaos? Players could have walked off, but they didn’t. After the game, Vinicius was blamed for goading the crowd. So that justifies monkey gestures? An opposition player calls him a monkey; his teammates defend the denials; the club minimizes it to win the PR battle, but why would a player hide his mouth if he didn’t say anything offensive? Why would Vinicius stop playing, report it to the ref, and risk drama when his team was winning? Why invent it?

There’s an ugly truth we overlook: we live in a divided, racist society. It’s open season for fascists and bigots, as they’ve seen the powerful commit unspeakable violence against Black and brown bodies with impunity forever. We’ve seen murderers in police badges and masked government men killing with no consequences.

We live where laws meant to correct past injustice get erased, where the previously disadvantaged are told diversity, equity, and inclusion are asking too much.

A Black person must be exceptional, magical, almost otherworldly. Grateful for any position. Leave politics at the door, for you will be called too radical and divisive. When the world is asymmetrical and hostile, we’re told we complain too much, that our struggle adapting to oppressive and unfair systems is because we prefer underdeveloped and lawless zones.

Suffer racial injustice? Rise above it, forgive, and shoulder the responsibility to explain the injury over and over.

I doubt football will change much. Will FIFA and UEFA criminalize and prosecute racists? Cleanse the sport? Empower referees, security, broadcasters, and stadium staff to act decisively? Will they use their enormous financial muscle to drive roadshows on racial diversity and education for fans and players alike? Will they silence coaches/owners to protect the “Beautiful Game” image? They keep throwing euros at ads, players kneeling, silly moments of silence, and black badges while turning the other cheek.

Of course fans can unsubscribe from channels showing racist behavior. Boycott stadiums throwing bananas at players. What happens to a game thriving on profit, T-shirts, tickets, and subscriptions? What if we boycotted the World Cup in the USA—a continent that’s shown how little it values Black bodies?

Until real reform, the status quo lets a 20-year-old Argentine boy be racist to a Black player. A million kids mimic him. Fans keep making monkey noises and throwing bottles and vapes—because they get away with it, blamed on “a few rotten apples.” How do we as parents and as citizens explain this to our children?

After Argentina won the 2022 World Cup, I celebrated, marching from Plaza de Mayo to La Boca, singing, dancing, and drinking. I was happy a Global South country triumphed over the North. I’d lived in Argentina and called it home for a year and a half and made dear friends.

The next day, hungover, I saw videos of Albiceleste players singing, "They play for France but come from Angola. They run well but like to fuck trans people; their mother is Nigerian, their father Cambodian, but they have a French passport.”

How wrong I was. Sometimes I wonder if I live in an upside-down universe.