Bananas, racist?

[Cowabungaa]

One of the more famous chants fans have over here in Holland is 'Hamas, Hamas, gass the Jews'.

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OT: Yeah, it's some twat calling him a monkey because he's black. Eating it was a pretty good way of dealing with it. I mean, who doesn't like bananas (other than me)?

EDIT: NVM, apparently it's an attack on South America as a banana republic. Equally douchey, equally good response.

Go figure; those aren't even necessarily the violent ones. They're even worse. The rioting surrounding football matches can reach absurd levels.

And yeah as for racist/banana republic thing, it can be both but it's definitely racist too. As pictures show above, and simple experience has shown, the whole monkey/jungle noises, gestures and all those things happens way too much. Football has the worst fans imaginable.

They should have chucked broccoli at him too and watched the headlines reel.

Now that's something I'd like to do, simply to confuse the absolute hell out of news casters. A piece of broccoli or some Roman lettuce suddenly landing on the field, no one would know what to make of it. Excellent.

 

[IceForce]

I am enjoying the mild racism going on with the OP thinking the person who ate the banana and the person who prompted the pictures online is the same guy. The guy who ate the banana is Dani Alves, the guy who started the #weareallmonkeys was Neymar.

Nope. It's just that I'm tired and have been suffering from insomnia recently. So I misread it.
There was nothing intentionally untoward in my opening post.

Thanks for proving my point though; that people today will find sinister meanings in absolutely anything, where none actually exist.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Perhaps it is more of a European thing. Have there actually been historical instances of it?

Probably thousands, it's common at football matches and used to happen outside of those too. It's very well known but, like most insults, is limited by region. This is one of those cases where you just don't know about it because I can promise you that this is decades old and common enough that pretty much anyone knows what it means.

It really isn't limited by region in Europe at least, you're gonna find monkey chants in England all the way to Turkey.

But yeah, the banana thing is a racist symbol because of the historical abuse of calling a black person a monkey, as you gathered by now. A lot of players were going to pull out of the European 2012 Tournament because of Ukraine's skinhead, football hooligan movement and a lot of players still got the monkey abuse during their public training session, this is how widespread the issue is in European Football.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I am enjoying the mild racism going on with the OP thinking the person who ate the banana and the person who prompted the pictures online is the same guy. The guy who ate the banana is Dani Alves, the guy who started the #weareallmonkeys was Neymar.

Nope. It's just that I'm tired and have been suffering from insomnia recently. So I misread it.
There was nothing intentionally untoward in my opening post.

Thanks for proving my point though; that people today will find sinister meanings in absolutely anything, where none actually exist.

Tis why I said 'mild' racism, because I meant it in an un-serious way.

Because you just didn't realise that there were two different people involved. I'm not actually suggesting that you are racist for not realising, especially considering the grainy footage of Dani used to show him eating the banana.

Similar happened in Football in England recently, a referee (or match official) gave a punishment/penalty to the wrong player, presumably because the two guys look very similar to each other and he got mixed up which was which, but because they were both black, it was considered racist by lots of people. More sane people, just saw it as quite funny and a bit of a silly mix-up. It was not really left alone for a week or two, but people have moved on since, as they always do, onto something new. I found it all quite funny to be honest.

The names of the two players confused were Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs, if you are interested.

 

[Flames66]

I'd imagine it has to do with the racist comparisons of black people to monkeys. You know, like how monkeys are always stereotypically depicted as eating bananas.

But the guy isn't black. It seems far more likely to me that someone in the audience had a banana in their hand and thought "I am Angry! Take That!!".

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Okay, to make it clear as possible to our friends from over Atlantic: It's like throwing KFC bucket at black american football player, or worse.

Yeah, the World Cup is less than 2 months away, and I can't wait to throw..... what can I throw at European players?

Banana, i guess... Since it happens to football players who are European too>.>

You could stay in place and watch the stadium collapse on them

Well, eh, that could be a little overkill, since this year World Cup is organized by Brazil.

 

[RealRT]

Jesus, everybody got this wrong. They're not attacking him for his race, they're attacking him for being from South America. It's very common in Spain to be condescending towards "bananero" countries, i.e. countries that are stereotypically said to live off banana exportations. The implication being they're culturally backwards countries. "Bananero" is their go-to insult when attacking us. It has nothing to do with race.

Thanks for clearing it up, Johnny.
Joke's on them, thanks to these countries we have delicious yellow fruits, now what does Spain do for the world?

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I'd imagine it has to do with the racist comparisons of black people to monkeys. You know, like how monkeys are always stereotypically depicted as eating bananas.

But the guy isn't black. It seems far more likely to me that someone in the audience had a banana in their hand and thought "I am Angry! Take That!!".

It doesn't really matter. As long as the player has a darker skin tone he can get that sort of treatment. It's not like those "fans" thought this over, just jerks being jerks.

Or it could be previously mentioned jab at former spanish colonies. Or both.

 

[ShogunGino]

Yeah, the World Cup is less than 2 months away, and I can't wait to throw..... what can I throw at European players?

Depends on which European country they are from.

If they are English, throw coffee at them. They consider it the Satan to their God, tea. Similarly, while you're at it, dump huge bags of tea on top of them. They hate that shit.

If French, throw some McDonalds' burgers at them. For a bonus, if the burgers make contact with the French players skin, it will probably make them explode immediately. They hate that shit.

McDonalds' won't work against the Germans, as the hamburger was invented there. They will just be annoyed. However, the answer is simple: throw swastika armbands at them and do the Hitler salute when they take the field. Do the same thing to the Austrians and the Swiss. They hate that shit.

If Italian, throw American store-bought pasta sauce at them. An Italian friend of mine said that pretty much EVER Southern Italian's reaction to store-bought sauce, especially American, is terrified screaming. They hate that shit.

Given their history, throw a Venezuelan at the Spanish.

This has been ShogunGino's 101 Guide to Stupid Stereotypes of Europeans by American Perspectives. I hope you all took notes, there'll be a quiz next week. It's worth 15% of your grade, so don't miss it.

OT: Stupid football fans are stupid. It's comforting to know that no matter which country I'm in, the sports fans will always be douchebag assholes.

 

[Flames66]

I'd imagine it has to do with the racist comparisons of black people to monkeys. You know, like how monkeys are always stereotypically depicted as eating bananas.

But the guy isn't black. It seems far more likely to me that someone in the audience had a banana in their hand and thought "I am Angry! Take That!!".

It doesn't really matter. As long as the player has a darker skin tone he can get that sort of treatment. It's not like those "fans" thought this over, just jerks being jerks.

Or it could be previously mentioned jab at former spanish colonies. Or both.

Or it could just be someone of the opposing side throwing whatever they had in their hand. Labeling as racism anything that could possibly be interpreted as such is very unhelpful.

 

[Albino Boo]

You could stay in place and watch the stadium collapse on them

Well, eh, that could be a little overkill, since this year World Cup is organized by Brazil.

Its a reference to the fact that one stadium for the world cup roof partially collapsed and another was hit by crane collapsing.

 

[Albino Boo]

Or it could just be someone of the opposing side throwing whatever they had in their hand. Labeling as racism anything that could possibly be interpreted as such is very unhelpful.

Yeah mate your edl isn't racist because its the only thing you had clean

 

[Kinitawowi]

I never quite understood it myself, but I think the banana thing comes from historical cultural associations of bananas = monkeys = Africa = black people. More prevalent across Europe because legacies of African colonialism etcetera.

Eating the banana in response is a moderately funny retort; it's like when David Beckham was being pelted with coins (basically every time he went to take a corner) - not a race or class thing, just a deliberate attempt to injure - and responded by pocketing them.

 

[Flames66]

Or it could just be someone of the opposing side throwing whatever they had in their hand. Labeling as racism anything that could possibly be interpreted as such is very unhelpful.

Yeah mate your edl isn't racist because its the only thing you had clean

Some elaboration is required. I have no idea what an "edl" is.

 

[White Lightning]

It's a bit of a stretch to call it racist, maybe the guy didn't have anything else to throw at him?

 

[Something Amyss]

So okay, why is throwing a banana at someone considered a racist act?

Black people are compared to monkeys and in the past have been offered or teased with bananas because of that comparison.

Johnny may also be correct, but the reason this became a thing to a good chunk of the world is because blacks are compared to monkeys or other "lower" species.

It almost like any little thing today can be construed as racist or sexist or whatever.
Maybe it meant nothing? Just a piece of fruit?

Maybe, but if you're doing something with decades of racism behind it, the odds are it's not innocent. Maybe that guy who runs around in bedsheets talking about White Power is just a MMPR fan, but it's more likely that he's a Klanny.

Which is why the first sentence there doesn't track with the rest. This isn't a new or random thing. I'm going to go out on a limb that if he had been told he was a ****** you'd not make the same argument.

 

[Something Amyss]

It could be not racism at all. He could have been really angry and happened to have a banana on hand, and threw it.
Not everything has to be racism. It could just be a wierd projectile.

And it could have been an alien mind control ray. The aliens, who could rightly fear bananas as the atheist's nightmare, might have manipulated a spectator into throwing a banana at him in an attempt to start a war, as this might be the equivalent of calling someone's mom a dirty skank on their home planet.

But realistically, when you have decades of comparing blacks to monkeys and decades of making ape noises and decades of offering blacks bananas, it seems a lot more likely that it actually was a racist statement.

 

[O maestre]

Jesus, everybody got this wrong. They're not attacking him for his race, they're attacking him for being from South America. It's very common in Spain to be condescending towards "bananero" countries, i.e. countries that are stereotypically said to live off banana exportations. The implication being they're culturally backwards countries. "Bananero" is their go-to insult when attacking us. It has nothing to do with race.

I have never heard of that, I have heard of the expression of a Bannana Republic as a derogatory remark against developing countries. I am half Brazilian and have never heard the term bananero or bananeiro... well I have heard Bananeira which is where the fruit comes from. It wouldn't make sense anyway since Brazil was never a Spanish colony.

I have however seen and heard of Banana's being used for comparing black people or non-whites to sub-human apes, both on and off the pitch.

And as other posters have mentioned banana's aren't have been thrown on the pitch before, and aren't the only things that racist hooligans do at matches. Most commonly they shout chimp calls at or other obscenities. That incident was about racism, there is no doubt.

Football in Europe has attracted a lot of racist hooligans, I'll give you an example English team Tottenham and dutch team Ajax, have both been mercilessly heckled for being Jewish, all kinds of ugly things, why? They are not owned or contain a large number of Jews now, but in the old days both teams accepted immigrant Jews into them at a time when Europe was less tolerant of the Jewish people. The racist insults that began back then are still present now.

Hell even wikipedia has a page dedicated to it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_association_football#Europe

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

snip
Or it could just be someone of the opposing side throwing whatever they had in their hand. Labeling as racism anything that could possibly be interpreted as such is very unhelpful.

Sure. For example: Someone who shows you a middle finger might just want you to check if his nail isn't broken.

On european stadiums this gesture will most likely mean one thing. I don't know about other places, though.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'd imagine it has to do with the racist comparisons of black people to monkeys. You know, like how monkeys are always stereotypically depicted as eating bananas.

But the guy isn't black. It seems far more likely to me that someone in the audience had a banana in their hand and thought "I am Angry! Take That!!".

"Bananero" is a popular insult Spanish people use against South Americans. It implies that as third world versions of their culture, we're only good for exporting said fruit. This is largely owed to a more or less true stereotype (lots of countries, such as Ecuador, almost exclusively thrive on banana exports) and a historical spite for the continent.

Jesus, everybody got this wrong. They're not attacking him for his race, they're attacking him for being from South America. It's very common in Spain to be condescending towards "bananero" countries, i.e. countries that are stereotypically said to live off banana exportations. The implication being they're culturally backwards countries. "Bananero" is their go-to insult when attacking us. It has nothing to do with race.

I have never heard of that, I have heard of the expression of a Bannana Republic as a derogatory remark against developing countries. I am half Brazilian and have never heard the term bananero or bananeiro... well I have heard Bananeira which is where the fruit comes from. It wouldn't make sense anyway since Brazil was never a Spanish colony.

That's probably it, because in Argentina I've heard it a number of times.