Mono o Monkey

Why Vinicius Jr.‘s Fight Is our War

Imagine, as a Black person, being called a monkey at your place of work. What would 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, does a shimmy and dance, as soccer players often do. When he comes back to his marker, he recieved an absurd yellow card for what was unruly and inciting behavior. Bizzare but ok, then a player on the opposition team, shirt over his mouth, said things that the cameras and us couldn’t read. The scorer runs to the referee to report what was said, being “Vinicius, you are a monkey”, 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, Didier Drogba, defended his player. 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 always happen to this player?” Stupidly negating the fact that there have been 20 criminal cases opened on fans racially abusing this very player. In Spain alone.

What bullshit!

Viewers saw the glaring truth: groups in Benfica colors making monkey gestures with their hands, mimicking sounds, jeering when Vinicius and other Black players neared the touchline. Objects 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 continuously ignored Real Madrid players pointing at racist chants in the stands.

Vinicius was besieged by players and coaches as the pressure was on the 25yr old to decide whether to walk off or carry on with the game. In front of thousands at 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 referee, and risk drama when his team was winning? Why invent it?

There’s an ugly truth we can’t overlook: we live in a divided and racist society. Lately it has become open season for fascists and bigots, as they’ve seen the powerful commit unspeakable violence against Black and brown bodies with impunity. We’ve seen murderers in police badges, 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, inclusion is asking too much.

We tag, repost, shake our heads and scroll past.

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, 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? Will they be decisive in empowering referees, security personnel, broadcasters, stadium staff? Will they use their enormous financial muscle to drive roadshows on racial diversity and education for fans and players alike?

How loud is their silence and ineptitude to protect the “Beautiful Game” image? Euros are being thrown at ads, at players kneeling for moments of silence, wearing black badges, while the whole structure turns the other cheek.

Of course fans can unsubscribe from channels broadcasting these games. Boycott and close stadiums where fans throw bananas at players.

What happens to a game thriving on profit, T-shirts, tickets, 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 will mimic him. Fans will keep making monkey noises, throwing bottles and fruit—because they get away with it, while the industry blames “a few rotten apples.” How will we as parents and 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, 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, a place I still love dearly.

The next day, hungover but happy, I saw a video of Albiceleste players singing: “They play for France but come from Angola. They run well but like to fuck trans people, their mother Nigerian, father Cambodian but carry a French passport.”

Sometimes I truly wonder if I live in an upside-down universe.