Karen Knows Best

Racism Shame In Spain… Again…

Friday, October 31, 2008
Posted in: Lewis Hamilton Formula 1 Motor racing, Racism
Tags:Is Spain The New KKK?

I know that there are racist bastards all over this globe, and that ignorant wankers aren’t exclusive to this bit of the world, but I’m starting to think that Spain, for such a developed country, has more than its fair share.

The latest incident involving Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton, makes me wonder how good the educational system in Spain is.

This excerpt is from The Telegraph:

Formula One world championship leader Lewis Hamilton is facing a new race hate campaign in the build-up to the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix after becoming the target of a Spanish website.

Pincha la Rueda de Hamilton – Spanish for ‘Burst Hamilton’s Tyre’ – encourages users to point drawing pins, nails and porcupines onto a computer mock-up of the Interlagos circuit at Sao Paulo.

Users have also posted a string of abusive messages. One reads: “Half-breed, kill yourself in your car.”

Another, from a man calling himself Alberto, reads: “I hope you run over your dad in the first pit stop, Hamilton.”

Nice.

The Daily Mail reports:

Hundreds of sick messages have been left on the site taunting him over the colour of his skin – with some even expressing a wish that he kills himself.

The abuse has been posted on a website that encourages visitors to leave ‘virtual nails’ on a mock-up of the Brazilian racetrack where he hopes to win the drivers’ championship this Sunday…

The website says: ‘Hamilton can’t finish the race, we have to stop him however we can. All you have to do is choose a spike, place it where you want on the circuit and hope he suffers a historic puncture.’

Last night more than 16,000 had signed up to the ‘black magic’ bid to put Hamilton out of the last race of the season.

One, calling himself David, left a porcupine out for Lewis on lap seven alongside a message saying: ‘F*** you bastard. Monkey.’

Another, called Angel, left a nail out for Lewis on lap 11 and raged: ‘I hope you crash, son of a bitch.’
Yet another, dubbing Hamilton a ‘Conguito’ – a gollywog-style chocolate sweet popular in Spain – said: ‘Conguito, you are going to die.’

Another, who called himself Chusqui, left a nail out near the finishing line on lap 12, alongside the insult: ‘Nigger.’

An automated message that flashes up after visitors leave their messages and nails says in Spanish: ‘We hope Hamilton punctures thanks to your help.’

TTG and I already decided that Spain is no longer an option in terms of holiday destinations, because after all, we certainly don’t want to help an economy where this kind of hatred of black people is so widespread.

What I want to know is what the Spanish goverment is doing to combat this kind of intolerable attitude.

Not much by the looks of things.

13 Comments »

Jane
October 31
4:10 pm

Wow, that is some terrible stuff Karen. I know I was appalled by their mocking of the Chinese during the Olympics but that was harmless compared to this crap. I wouldn’t want to go to Spain either in the face of this.

Lori
October 31
6:01 pm

OMG, that is just appalling. I’m practically speechless. And you know how hard that is to do!

What is Formula One doing about it? I’d think that they would take their dollars elsewhere. Or at least they should.

Dalia
October 31
6:01 pm

The site itself doesn’t seem racist (from what I gather) as much as tasteless. I don’t follow F1, so school me if I’m wrong, but the previous media – and sport – darling was the Spaniard Fernando Alonso (or some name like that) who was supplanted by Hamilton. So I get the idea that if L Hamilton was a white guy, they’d still be drinking the haterade.

But, of course, some of the comments are racist. But as you said, you’d get that everywhere. Most important to me, is the institutional response. Do they bring out a statement denouncing the site etc etc. Is my memory faulty or did the Powers That Be in Spanish football not say anything when there were the racist monkey taunts from their fans some years back?

Val
October 31
8:55 pm

I lived in Spain (Madrid/Barcelona) for two years and the news had regular stories about skin heads beating up latinos/blacks at deserted metro stations and parks. To get to my dorm we had to cross this huge park. One night, a classmates of mine (from Chile) was jumped on by a bunch of skinheads (including women) and was lucky enough to escape with just a few bruises and cuts.

I didn’t experience any racism personally though, and to be honest, people were very nice to latinos/blacks everywhere I went. I live in the caribbean and we get a lot of Spanish tourists. It seems they love mulatas and cocolas (mix between black/creole/white) and often come here to find women to marry and take back home with them.

I don’t think Spanish people are racist (especially not in Madrid). I think there’s a percentage of the population that is, but most definitely not the majority of them.

AztecLady
October 31
11:31 pm

The site may be tasteless but the comments quoted have racist slants to them. And even if the racism weren’t there, isn’t inciting people to direct their anger and violent thoughts to another person–a real person, with name, family, and a life, not a gaming character, even through a “game” setting–akin to egging a mob to lynch a person?

I agree that it’s doubtful that the majority of the population in Spain is racist, but if the government and media do not denounce these things, they are complicit to them.

Laura Vivanco
October 31
11:57 pm

According to La Voz de Galicia the site has now been taken down.

Jane
November 1
12:02 am

Is it really the government’s role to condemn this activity? I mean, isn’t the government’s role to support negative rights? Shouldn’t it be the Formula 1 folks to condemn it?

AztecLady
November 1
12:28 am

It’s a good question, Jane, and I don’t know.

Isn’t it a bit like allowing someone to incite a mob’s violent behaviour? And in those cases, isn’t the government (police) supposed to step in and intervene?

I don’t know.

Karen Scott
November 1
12:54 am

The problem is Jane that it’s not just in Formula One. There is rampant racism within the football fraternity too. Fans who make monkey noises at our black players are quite common place.

queenbeetrainer
November 1
2:37 am

I spent some time in Spain years ago and I found the people to be for the most part friendly, but as with any place you go there’s always people who are just ignorant. It’s really too bad and it makes me hope that Hamilton kicks some bootie.