Bananas, racist?

IceForce

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While reading some news stories, I stumbled across this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/barcelonas-dani-alves-banana_n_5227096.html

Long story short:
During a sports game, a player had a banana thrown at him by a spectator.
The player ate the banana, and carried on playing.
After the game was over, and as an "act of racism defiance", the player posted a picture of himself eating a banana, online. This was followed by many more people and fans posting similar pictures.

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

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?

Anyway, your thoughts on this?
 

Eamar

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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.

That's my assumption, anyway.

EDIT: Great thread title, by the way XD
 

Keoul

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2615040/Barcelonas-Dani-Alves-deals-racist-threw-banana-pitch-picking-EATING-it.html

Well after reading that article as well, the most I can get out of it was that they were calling him a monkey.
Maybe because he has dark skin? Though it does not look that dark to me so I'm not exactly sure, might just be a racist thing in Barcelona that we don't really get.
 

Euryalus

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If they are then racism is delicious.

But yeah, Like Earmar said it probably has to do with that, but as far symbolic acts go that seems like a stretch. I certainly wouldn't have gotten it if no one had brought racism into it.
 

madwarper

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Well, what exactly are the races of the people involved? Because, I know that "banana" can be used as a derogatory for someone that's "yellow on the outside, but white on the inside". Much like Oreo, coconut, etc.

Other than that, I don't see how this is racist.
 

Thaluikhain

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Presumably there's some racist baggage involving bananas. Maybe its a Brazilian thing.
 

Eddie the head

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I though a banana was a a term for Asian people "acted" white. I don't get how it relates to this guy. Unless they where calling him a "monkey" or something?
 

Casual Shinji

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Because "soccer" still has a ludicrous amount of racism present, like in the form of making monkey noises toward black players. Or in this case throwing a banana at them.

Any other sport I'd say they're making too big of a deal over this, but not with soccer. It might seem like nothing, but it's just another sign of how fucking backwards a lot of these fans are. One of the more famous chants fans have over here in Holland is 'Hamas, Hamas, gass the Jews'. When congragated, soccer fans are some of the worst people you'll ever meant.
 

Casual Shinji

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T0ad 0f Truth said:
If they are then racism is delicious.

But yeah, Like Earmar said it probably has to do with that, but as far symbolic acts go that seems like a stretch. I certainly wouldn't have gotten it if no one had brought racism into it.
You know how America has the 'fried chicken' remark (also delicious)? Europe is very old school when it comes to racist remarks toward black people. I seems to remember a while back in France I think, there was this black politician who got called "an ape" by someone from another party.
 

Legion

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Eamar said:
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.

That's my assumption, anyway.

EDIT: Great thread title, by the way XD
Pretty much. I thought this was common knowledge, but perhaps it is because racism and football are are a common subject in the UK so we simply are more aware of it all.

Eddie the head said:
Unless they where calling him a "monkey" or something?
That is exactly what it is meant for normally. As well as monkey chanting, which is also done to black football players in Europe.

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

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?

Anyway, your thoughts on this?
It is entirely possible that the particular person throwing it did not mean it as racism and it was merely what they had to hand. But the fact that it is not an uncommon thing to happen suggests otherwise.

This has been going on since the 1960's at the very least, so it's not like people who are into football are oblivious to what it generally means.
 

Ubiquitous Duck

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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.

Seriously though, this has been in football for a long time and it continues to be a problem.

It is partly this:

Eamar said:
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.
and is usually accompanied by people 'imitating' monkeys in the crowd, such as making monkey noises and flailing their arms about the place.

These are being targeted towards black players in Football/soccer matches and it has been happening for a long minute.

At times 'fans' have even directed these chants at their own players (look up Roberto Carlos playing in Russia); one of the most famous, world-class footballers comes to play for your team and the fans make monkey noises at him and throw bananas.

Racism continues to be a massive problem in Football, but its extent does differ, dependent normally on where you are playing.

Dani Alves I'm sure has been subjected to this before and he, on the spot presumably, came up with a new way of reacting to it. It is being utilised to highlight the gross extent of racism still apparent on the mainstage of Football.
 

Euryalus

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Casual Shinji said:
T0ad 0f Truth said:
If they are then racism is delicious.

But yeah, Like Earmar said it probably has to do with that, but as far symbolic acts go that seems like a stretch. I certainly wouldn't have gotten it if no one had brought racism into it.
You know how America has the 'fried chicken' remark (also delicious)? Europe is very old school when it comes to racist remarks toward black people. I seems to remember a while back in France I think, there was this black politician who got called "an ape" by someone from another party.
That was mostly just me voicing my first thought at reading the title xD

The connection to bananas here would be tenuous at best where I live.

The most common foods being linked to racism that I've heard are curry, fried chicken, watermelons, spaghetti, kebabs, and alcohol. Guess which people are punching bags here?

I'll give you a hint. It's all the people who aren't White protestants and belong to the largest minority groups. It's not super racist here, but enough that I have heard of these too many times... which is to say more than zero. :/

*sigh*

Racism.
 

DANEgerous

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I was going to say the whole "Black people as Gorillas" or whatever they intended to depict them as but think about it. What do you throw at a bad performer? Typically Bananas or at least banana peals is third behind shoes and tomatoes. Honestly I think we maybe getting so sensitive to racism that it may undermine it to an extent.

Still an awesome response to the would be heckler though perhaps it was a doter that thought he could use some potassium.
 

Queen Michael

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I know bananas are racist. You won't believe the things they yell to my black friend Hasim whenever he's at the fruit aisle in the grocery store.
 

Vegosiux

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You know, the fact that Alves casually picked it up and ate it isn't the entire story about what makes his reaction to it awesome. After the game, he said something along the lines of "My dad always told me bananas are good against muscle cramps, so whoever threw it, thanks".

Also, the individual who threw the banana was located via security cameras and is now banned for life from El Madrigal.

Eamar said:
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.

That's my assumption, anyway.
That's the gist of it, yes. It's the entire "black players = monkeys" nonsense.
 

HardkorSB

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IceForce said:
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?
Racists like comparing black people to monkeys.
I have encountered such racists so I know.
I remember about a decade ago i my home country, a black football player started playing for one of the better teams as well as the national team and some racist assholes did the same exact thing.
Here's an interview with him about it (the comment section is mostly racist slurs in case you're wondering):

 

Busard

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So basically what I learned today is:

Move all racists to africa so they can throw bananas around. Hunger problem solved !
 

DANEgerous

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Queen Michael said:
I know bananas are racist. You won't believe the things they yell to my black friend Hasim whenever he's at the fruit aisle in the grocery store.
Seriously? I mean if I had that thrown at me on a regular basis I would have a record of assault with a lot of counts. I hate racists, even as a white guy I can get the crap that get tossed at them to a degree and it is all really fucking stupid.
 

Mr. Eff_v1legacy

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I remember bringing this up with a particularly bad university prof I had. She could not come up with a good answer to my argument that the first person to bring "race" into an argument is a racist themselves, and pretty much just ended the discussion with (paraphrasing) "If you can't see it, that's not my problem."

OP, while the guy himself MAY have had racist intent, that matters little. The real social commentary here, in my view, is everyone else assuming they knew what this guy is up to. It shows how much "race" really matters to some people - and they're supposed to be the "progressive" ones.