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When I read the recent headline that AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan had apologised to Adam Goodes for not acting sooner on the booing controversy of 2015, I felt a slight sickness well up in my stomach.
Not because Goodes finally got his well-deserved apology; but because the story was back. I could feel the flocks of naysayers rubbing their hands together ready to spew vitriol all over Goodes once again.
Why does it bother people so much that he has been apologised to? Something is off here and this time it can’t be ignored.
I knew what to expect when scrolling through the article’s comments, and unfortunately I was not surprised. “We will never apologise for booing that flog,” said one contributor.
Others spouted the same nonsense we all heard six months ago, “The booing had nothing to do with race! We just hate him because of who he is!” It was near impossible to find anything but negativity. The amount of burning hatred people were still expressing over this was truly mind-boggling – after all, what has Adam done? Really, I ask, what has he done?
He reacted to being racially slurred during a game specifically designated to celebrate the Indigenous people of our game. Some of us saw a man deeply hurt, in disbelief, who did an incredibly courageous thing to immediately take action and say “no, that’s not okay”. But no – they only saw a man publicly humiliate a poor young girl.
What a sook, they said.
On behalf of his ancestors, he publicly challenged the validity of Australia Day; a controversial celebration for many given the horrific links it has to the destruction of many Aboriginal people and their culture. Adam’s descendants would have been a part of this.
What a sook. Get over it.
He performed an Aboriginal war dance, once again, in a game specifically designed to celebrate Indigenous culture, and was told by this country that it was unacceptable. People comfortably sitting at home watching a man throw an imaginary boomerang were outraged.
How savage. How intimidating. Boo him until he stops playing, and when he does, call him a sook.
And then after all this, professional pot-stirrer Sam Newman arrogantly tells him to just play football and stop turning the field into a political landscape.
He, on the other hand, is met with raucous applause.
Do you think Adam Goodes would have been booed if he was a white man?
I’m sure his critics would cry out in unison, “yes!” and claim wrongly for the umpteenth time it had nothing to do with race. We all should have figured out by now that if Adam Goodes was a white man, he would have given these crowds absolutely no reason to hate him, for none of these events would have ever occurred.
I often wonder what would’ve happened if it were Eddie Betts or Steven Motlop (both popular) that were put in his position. I’d like to think they would’ve fought back just like Goodes did. What I don’t like to think of is the abuse they too undoubtedly would’ve been subjected to. Luckily for them they didn’t need to, because Adam was their face; their voice. Booing Adam was booing them all.
Australia, you booed a black man’s right to defend himself against racist remarks. You booed a black man’s right to be hurting from the horrific mistreatment of his ancestors. You booed a black man’s right to celebrate his culture when he thought it was safe to do so. You booed a black man’s right to take a stand for everything he believed in. And when you finally beat him, you celebrated.
Now, Gillon McLachlan has stood up and acknowledged he should’ve done more, and instantly you jump online and boo a black man’s right to be apologised to. Goodes hasn’t taken the football field for six months, but an opportunity arose to crush what he represented one more time and it was taken without hesitation, complete with venomous insults and the confidence of knowing that the majority is with you.
On another note, here in Australia most of us watch in disbelief as Donald Trump’s presidential campaign based off fear and bigotry keeps scarily gaining momentum. Support is growing and the mob mentality rolls on.
Did you know that despite mountains of proof, Trump has continually told journalists over and over that he isn’t at all one bit racist? What’s scarier than that is that he genuinely believes he isn’t.
Sound familiar?
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