King Juan Carlos Speaks on Diversity and Sports Media in the US and Europe

At lunch time, I like to sip Earl Grey tea and read bbc.co.uk, focusing specifically on European news. It might seem like a paradox that my ties to the continent where I was born strengthened, rather than weakened, after the five years I have spent in the U.S. Regardless of my present residence, I follow the news from the other side of the pond more avidly than I do that from Washington, D.C.

Most recently, my attention was focused on the latest from the Austrian cities of Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt, as well as the Swiss towns of Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Berne. For fellow soccer fans, the reason behind this is clear: the Euro Cup 2008. For all others, let me try to explain. In Europe, soccer is what baseball is in America: our favorite type of sport by a long shot. The Euro Cup takes place only once every four years, giving national teams a chance to peacefully compete against their neighbors with whom they share a history of feuds, often bloody and going back centuries. The majority of Europeans care much more about their country being the current reigning soccer power than their country formally leading the European Union (presiding over the EU Council).

The shady side of this otherwise non-violent contest is racism, demonstrated as verbal and physical attacks against players, especially blacks. In the 21st century, Europe is still struggling to come to terms with immigration and the influx of people who speak different languages, have a different culture, and are often of a different skin color. Because of the ongoing integration of the continent, which keeps linking individual countries into one body, the European Union, the historical tensions between nations are growing less important. However, the level of racial intolerance remains high, and might even be on the rise due to a general discontent over illegal immigration, especially from Africa.

Every day boats, dinghies and small ships full of Africans attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea. The people aboard are risking their lives in a clandestine crossing in order to escape poverty on the African continent and to start new lives in wealthy Europe. Against these immigrants are not only the perilous sea, but also patrols of national and international border control agencies. Those who manage to set foot ashore face hostility coming from EU citizens and their political representatives. Under pressure from voters, European governments, with Italy as the forerunner, are imposing ever stricter laws meant to crack down on illegal immigration. Non-whites are asked for papers more often than their white counterparts. If caught without a visa, the immigrants are put in a detention camp where they await deportation. Just recently in Rome, for example, a law has been proposed which would put illegal immigrants in jail.

Meanwhile, European soccer fans who put their racial hatred on open display go unpunished in most cases. According to various soccer officials, picking out individual offenders from a huge, anonymous crowd would be too difficult. Still, a spike of racially motivated incidents prompted a campaign to eliminate discrimination from soccer. This campaign, called Unite Against Racism, was designed to involve not only the players, but also the soccer fans in the stadium. Last Wednesday and Thursday, those in Basel, watching Germany vs. Turkey, and in Vienna, following the action of Spain vs. Russia, were asked to perform a Mexican wave while wearing a promotional, anti-racist bib. These semifinals were the focal point of the campaign, and the fans rising in support of Unite Against Racism were televised worldwide prior to the commencement of both matches.

To my surprise, this part of the game was utterly ignored in the BBC article about the Russia-Spain match. Out of curiosity, I looked at the Web sites of several large American newspapers. Not a single word about the anti-racism campaign was to be found. However, the presence of Spanish royalty was duly noted.

I remembered how much coverage American news media devoted to historical enemies, such as Germany and Poland, fighting each other on the soccer field in the Euro Cup. The fact that during that match a German of Polish origin scored two goals that secured the win for Germany was mentioned widely across the board. Similarly, some newspapers devoted lengthy articles to the Germany-Turkey game, a particularly interesting match since the Turks pose Germany's largest ethnic minority (in American terms, that would be like a truly crucial baseball game between the U.S. and Mexico). The New York Times writes in "Germany, Turkey and Jumbled Loyalties" about the "mixed allegiances" within the German and the Turkish populations. The article was upbeat and positive, quoting pro-German Turkish, as well as open-minded Germans of Turkish descent, and vice versa. The picture of a German and Turkish flags tied together, gracing the entry to a small store in a primarily Turkish neighborhood of Berlin served as an illustration fitting and poignant at the same time.

As the competition ends with Spain triumphing, 1-0, over Germany, the newspapers focus on how the winners have not won a major tournament since the 1960s. Many sites post pictures of the victorious Spaniards throwing their coach, Luis Aragones, up in the air. Aragones is the same man who in 2004 called Thierry Henry, a French player of African origin (and France's leading scorer), "negro de mierda," or "f ... black." But I guess it's all forgotten now. Besides, the Spanish team is all white.

As I'm taking the last sip of my lunch time Earl Grey tea and looking through articles devoted to the final game of Euro 2008, I realize that European and American sports' news reporting is, unfortunately, often completely inadequate. Diversity is, to say it mildly, omitted as a topic, and acceptance, or perhaps even tolerance for racism, do exist. the effort of the organizers of Unite Against Racism, the soccer tournament ended without emphasizing the anti-racist message. The one-sided news coverage of the event made the Euro 2008 a missed chance for bridging the racial divide, not only in Europe, but also in America. Europeans and Americans of color have every right to feel disappointed at the news media. Instead of being a mouthpiece of racial diversity, it served a bland meal of politically correct statements coming from integrated white Europeans, as well as reports on activities of King Juan Carlos, and Felipe, Prince of Asturias.