This week, racism reached new lows in two professional sports.
In Italy, fans of the Lazio soccer team used large Anne Frank pictures as part of a slur against a rival, Team Roma.
The idea they were conveying? You are sub-human; you are dead; you are weak; you deserve to be demeaned.
To demonstrate contrition, the team wore shirts of Anne Franke, with the statement, “No Anti-Semitism.”
That’s a start—but the Lazio fans have an ingrained culture of anti-Semitism. In 2001, the fans displayed a large banner, aimed at Team Roma: “Auschwitz is Your Home Land: The Ovens Are Your Homes.”
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In last night’s World Series game, major league baseball reached a new low as Yuli Gurriel made a slant-eyed gesture and shouted a racial slur at Yu Darvish, son of a Japanese mother.
Racism in America has returned; it has also returned globally. The first step to address it is to call it out.
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