You Cannot Tell Me That This Wasn't Racism

-

 “They Blamed Her For Being Black”

Aryan Mukherjee


18 months ago, an act of systemic racism during a GymStart gymnastics tournament for children in Ireland presented itself for all of those in attendance to see. Only just recently, the world finally found out what actually transpired that day.


Upon completion of the tournament, a young black girl who chose to keep her identity anonymous was overcome with dejection upon finding out that she was the sole individual in a field full of white children to be denied a medal of participation. According to her parents, the denial was of pure racist intent, and the perpetrators “tried to cover up like it didn’t happen”.


Later on, the event was put off as an “honest mistake”, one that allegedly had no racist motivations behind them and was simply an unfortunate fault of “human error”. Some people, especially those like the Irish Capital representatives and the members who hosted the event themselves believed this story, while others like Professor Harry Edwards of the campaign group “Sport Against Racism Ireland” and former black gymnast Simone Biles seethed under their teeth as the actuality of the situation was buried like gold.


After that ecstatic moment when the girl received such kind words from Ms. Biles, reassured by the promises of comfort that were secretly suppressed by tears and drawn back into a warm summer smile, the girl decided that such racism was not going to prevail in her quest to achieve greatness and resemble her idol. “I was really happy to hear that she’s on my side … I’m going to keep striving hard,” she commented in an interview, and the ten-year-old now is endeavoring to gain prestige much greater than a simple participation medal.


So, the question still persists- are such acts of racism ever going to completely vanish from our planet? It is likely that the answer is a curt “no”. But it is up to us the people from anywhere we can in the world to raise up the privilege of those under it and bring about the change we want to see with our own bucket cast down in the soil. If the government is going to lay idle and throw their hands up like Congress at the end of the Reconstruction in America without actually seeing change through to the end, then we who want to see a new order must scan the perimeter and dig deep into every possible implementation there is. Eventually, slowly yet surely, doing this will make the other side fall flat, and our efforts will finally overturn the corruptions intertwined in every part of our world.


Sources Used:


Hegarty, Stephanie. “Family in Gymnastics Racism Row Say Apology Is ‘Useless.’” BBC News, BBC, 28 Sept. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66937302. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.


“Video: See Heartbreaking Moment Young Black Gymnast Is Skipped at Medal Ceremony | CNN.” Www.cnn.com, 27 Sept. 2023, www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/09/27/black-gymnast-skipped-award-ceremony-ireland-ctn-vpx.cnn. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

‌

“Biles Criticises Black Irish Girl’s Medal Snub.” BBC Sport, www.bbc.com/sport/gymnastics/66897838. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eulogy of my Grandfather

-
  What’s Popping my Dearest Dadu, Oh, where can I even begin? All of the things I wanted to tell you, all of the feelings I wanted to feel, all of the memories I waited to etch into that log that ultimately drifted with the currents before I could even extend my arm out for it. I knew one day that this time would come, but how could I expect that day to be so soon? So incredibly, tragically soon. When you passed away, it would be imprecise to say that the emotions came in waves. More so, they came in two parts: the sudden shock and onslaught of sadness at the instantaneous realization of what the word “dead” meant, and the slower, deeper and more excruciating depression that clung onto my soul and still hasn’t let go. And if you weren’t such a good grandfather, such a pure human being, and such a fun and lovable person who in every moment where the alchemist within me brewed up split feelings would without hesitation suck out the poison and put my life before his, that second part ...
Read it to believe it.

Psst… Have You Heard The Gossip?

-
  Psst… Have You Heard The Gossip? Gossip. You hear it all the time. Or maybe you don’t- all those little tidbits floating around in the air like the stench of stale cheese from hallway to auditorium to friends to colleagues all the way right outside your front door. And you might not even know about it. Did I just make you paranoid? Well, don’t worry, because the topic for this article is one that you may not have foreseen- the brilliant benefits of gossip unbeknownst to much of mankind. Yes, you heard me right. Researchers in the Plotkin Research Group in Mathematical Biology in the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences recently assembled a mechanistic math model showcasing the relationship between gossip and cooperation. The authors- Mari Kawakatsu,  Joshua B. Plotkin, and Taylor A. Kessinger- state that gossip can actually help facilitate discussions that hold people accountable for their actions. After all, sources like social media, news, and jou...
Read it to believe it.

Their Voices Must Be Heard

-
  Currently Informed embraces Black History Month By: Aryan Mukherjee February is Black History Month. Great , you say, feigning a smile and then going back to texting your friends racist jokes in your group chat. Now imagine what you’ve done in a more flushed out sense. Millions of African Americans were ransacked, beat, lynched, raped, and had their wills extracted out and burnt to a crisp under excruciating amounts of pain and sacrifice, their struggles so real and so incredibly dark that Black History Month was created to honor their suffering in our history. And you have just slandered that all because times have changed and you refuse to look back. You see, this is not just a special month where you would greet your African American friends with a little more cordiality than would typically be beckoned. Rather, it is a testament to something that many could never even imagine living through- something to be remembered. To briefly sum up, Black History month originated as ...
Read it to believe it.