The famous Afro German player, Jerome Boateng, has called on more famous white sports personalities to add their voices to the belts of outraged people over the killing of George Floyd. The African American man from Minneapolis suffered under the weight of police brutality as an officer pinned him t the ground by hi neck while he struggles to breath to stay alive. This action spurred a lot of hatred on the police and systemic racism in systems that privilege white people over black people.
Floyd’s death has sparked eight days of protest in the US cities, some of which have turned to violent and even led to arrests, looting and destruction of property. It has also seen athletes, sports teams and leagues expressing solidarity with protesters demanding an end to systemic racism and police brutality in the United States. “Our voices carry, we have a platform and we touch many people,” Boateng, whose father is from Ghana, told Deutsche Welle radio on Thursday. “All white sportspeople who don’t speak out are obviously not racists, but of course it is desirable that they also use their notoriety for this cause. Many do it, but I think we can do much more.” Boateng added that a deeper message needed to be sent, beyond the world of social media. “You need to take things in hand, whether in the form of work with children, or in integration projects,” he said. He added that, “That always depends on the parents and what they’re teaching their children.
Boateng added that schools need the issue of racism to be integrated in curriculum. It’s only by doing that that there will be progress. People across Germany, including footballers, have been protesting against racism and police brutality in the US over the past days. The Afro German star posted a video on Instagram of children of different skin colour that hit at the fact that racism is learnt.
Famous German Team, Borussia Dortmund, players have also showed their support of the black lives matter movement by taking a knee at a training session. Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi were cleared of wrongdoing by the German FA earlier in the week after revealing the message “Justice for George Floyd” on an undershirt during Sunday’s win at Paderborn. Centre-back Mats Hummels posted the photo of 28 players kneeling in the shape of a heart on a playing field on Twitter. “We the players of Borussia Dortmund fully support the Black Lives Matter Movement,” he said. “We don’t accept racism of any kind. For an open minded and tolerant world, for a better world,” he added.