John Barnes Article in Times

[Skully]

Wasn't sure where to put this but pasted for those interested.Club could do a lot worse than having him as ambassador and not just bcause of recent events. Love the guy

It’s not about football, it’s about destroying modern myths of colour, race and superiority

In 1987 a black friend of mine went into a shop to buy a coat. He asked the assistant if they had it in black and she said no, they only had it in nigger brown. She was a lovely woman, but what would we say if that happened today?

If I were to ask players of my generation if they had made a racist comment in a football match, anyone honest would almost certainly say yes. No one batted an eyelid 20 years ago. Now when Alan Hansen says “coloured” rather than “black” (because black used to be an insult) or Luis Suárez says “negrito”, everyone jumps up and down to distance themselves from such remarks. They believe racism has been consigned to the past.

When Thierry Henry led the campaign to kick racism out of football it might have changed attitudes towards Henry, but it didn’t change anything for the black guy on the Holloway Road. I am often asked if black players can make good managers. That is an inherently racist question, built on an assumption that a manager’s qualities are based on colour, even though the people asking it don’t mean it to be.

The Football Association ticks all the right boxes with its policies and campaigns, the Government passes legislation, the Prime Minister gets involved because someone didn’t shake someone’s hand, people queue up to say ignorance is no excuse. But they are wrong. Ignorance is the excuse. To stop it, we have to start talking seriously about race.

The idea that race is about colour is relatively modern. When Aristotle spoke about races he was differentiating between uncivilised barbarians and civilised Greeks. But it was introduced by governments, backed by the Church, to validate slavery and colonialism, to justify treating some people as less equal than others. Just as Linnaeus classified plants, so people were classified by the colour of their skin. Academics tried to prove differences in skull formation to give scientific support to the idea that black people were morally and intellectually inferior.

But race is not a scientific reality. You could find a tribe in Africa who are genetically closer to Europeans than to an African tribe a hundred miles away. Some Saudis have whiter skin than Italians.

The notion of “whiteness” is an ideology of superiority. Nothing similar has ever existed in black culture. Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda do not see themselves as the same. When the Labour MP Diane Abbott talked on Twitter about “divide and rule” her claims depended on a sense of black identity that wasn’t correct.

Empires that conquer new territory find they cannot impose their own ideas for long. The only way to evolve is to assimilate cultures. The Greeks and Romans learnt that and we are learning it now in Britain.

In the 1970s when the Arsenal and England footballer Ian Wright arrived from Jamaica, his family would have retained their Caribbean identity. And Tony Adams, his Arsenal and England team-mate, would have had his English culture. But their children, like other black, white and Asian children, have grown up together and formed a new British culture.

I was on a train listening to four boys who all sounded like Vicky Pollard. One was black and one was white and, in what sounds like a joke, the others were Asian and Chinese. Their shared culture superseded any sense of race.

It would probably be the same for John Terry and Anton Ferdinand. If they were at a nightclub they would be more likely to gravitate to each other because they wear the same jeans and move in the same world than to someone of the same colour who had nothing in common with them.

As long as racism exists in society it will exist in football. Passing laws saying it is illegal might stop fans shouting abuse in public, but it won’t stop racist feelings any more than theft laws stop people stealing. It won’t stop if we ban players who make racist remarks.

As football finds itself at the heart of arguments about handshakes and insults, let’s use it to make real progress. There is a positive change between the generations and we can speed that up by destroying some basic myths about colour, race and superiority.

John Barnes is a former Liverpool and England footballer

[Paulie Dangerously]

I read every word of that in my head with a John Barnes voice

[gkmacca]

Superb. Earlier on, on Talksport with Barclay and Co, he came out with the quote of the year: 'Where were you 20 years ago when I was getting abuse?' It just flattened them. Because they really don't give a damn, even though they've been advertising their supposed moral superiority for months now. Digger should be handed some national role now in re-educating the nation.

[Captain]

Top man he is, John. And one of our best ever players as well.

[Skully]

Originally Posted by gkmacca

Superb. Earlier on, on Talksport with Barclay and Co, he came out with the quote of the year: 'Where were you 20 years ago when I was getting abuse?' It just flattened them. Because they really don't give a damn, even though they've been advertising their supposed moral superiority for months now. Digger should be handed some national role now in re-educating the nation.

Completely agree - also for someone not employed by the club , his recent comments on ESPN /Talklsport /BBC hve been much more helpful than half arsed apologies & bad PR from up on high. But yes for wier picture, I believe people would more likely listen to Digger than Powar & his ilk

[Section_31]

Fantastic article, a true legend and a hugely intelligent and articulate man.

[Trumo]

Superb stuff, yet it's a shame seemingly nobody outside of Liverpool fans is really interested in what he has to say. He doesn't do easy soundbites. He doesn't blindly follow the herd. He tries to engage people in thoughtful and rational discussion which is much harder to accept when you're frothing at the mouth.

Messrs Ouseley, Powar and Roberts, THIS is how you engage in debate about racism.

[gingerhulk]

Only just got round to listening to Diggers (brilliant) lecture on Talkshite. Superb, he runs rings around the 'jurnos' and makes so many valid and unheard views that upsets the balance. I posted a link from Diggers interview on skynews a few weeks ago, once again he was brilliant and got his views and points across so effortlessly and managed to bring new questions and ideas to the race debate/argument.

[Tommy Lawrence]

Digger would make an excellent ambassador for the club.

As Section says,he's "a true legend and a hugely intelligent and articulate man".

What more could we want?

[ngogswilly]

Hes been an absolute legend throughout this whole time.

Eloquently and intelligently standing up for us.

He should be an ambassador for the club.

[gingerhulk]

Originally Posted by Tommy Lawrence

Digger would make an excellent ambassador for the club.

As Section says,he's "a true legend and a hugely intelligent and articulate man".

What more could we want?

I think he would be more use to the F.A than us.

[manwiththestick]

I love John Barnes. Seems like a really decent guy. Hopefully his opinions and thoughts fall upon more ears than just those that are looking for them, god knows we need it.

[xerxes]

Originally Posted by Trumo

Superb stuff, yet it's a shame seemingly nobody outside of Liverpool fans is really interested in what he has to say. He doesn't do easy soundbites. He doesn't blindly follow the herd. He tries to engage people in thoughtful and rational discussion which is much harder to accept when you're frothing at the mouth.

Messrs Ouseley, Powar and Roberts, THIS is how you engage in debate about racism.

What I most admire is his quiet dignity in getting stuck in against the tide.

He is an example that other paid employees would do well to follow.

[Elysian Red]

He's really made me think differently about this. We get white/black shoved down our throats, when really this is about, as he says, superiority.

How can you call Mediterranean people white? Uruguayan? Greeks? A lot if it is bullshit, the west versus less developed countries. Fuck race, we are all the same. If only we could get past our own bullshit hang ups.

[ROGO]

a fantastic piece there from digger.
its funny how a black, ex liverpool, none official advocate for the club could wipe the floor with these white, ignorant, media whores who think they're standing up for ethnic minorities.
the truth for me is a black person means absolutely nothing to me. if im honest, i cant even relate to how someone at the wrong end of a racist comment woud feel, because the colour of someones skin to me registares in my mind about as much as the colour of someones hair.
you half expect these moral highground dwellers to stop a black person in the street and ask them if they're 'holding up alright, you know...because of those bastards in liverpool'.
then sign themselves off as a concerned citizen just after encouraging them to 'hang on in there'

[KevieG]

Originally Posted by gkmacca

Superb. Earlier on, on Talksport with Barclay and Co, he came out with the quote of the year: 'Where were you 20 years ago when I was getting abuse?' It just flattened them. Because they really don't give a damn, even though they've been advertising their supposed moral superiority for months now. Digger should be handed some national role now in re-educating the nation.

That was epic. John nailed that fucking muppet. Completely exposed them all for what they are. None of them give a shit about racism and personally I suspect some of the older journos are probably racist.

I didn't think I could respect the man anymore but these last few weeks he has been one of the few voices of sanity in this whole mess. Agree on some sort of ambassadorial role.

[Arthur Friedenreich]

Digger and the other black players from the 70's 80's era are the ones responsible for black players acceptance within the game. It was rare to hear any abuse from the Kop after he signed, regarding black players. While our noisy neighbours were still singin there"s no black in the union jack or Everton football team. Barnes, Blisset, gayle, canoville, batson - these are the people who drove the retards underground at grounds around the country, and should be recognized and applauded for it.
Arguably Bojangles, the racist extraordinaire, did more to banish racist chants from grounds around the country than the limp dick FA ever have, due to his team selections when he was managing.
Also next time the press bring up tokenism in favour of hiring managers, can we not turn the mirror on them and ask why such a high proportion of uk football reporters are white, bar he nugget Lewis at the mirror, I can't think of another amongst their ranks.

[lifetime fan]

Originally Posted by Section_31

Fantastic article, a true legend and a hugely intelligent and articulate man.

Until recently I didn't realise how intelligent and articulate Digger is.

Reading an autocue does him no favours.

[Saintslfc13]

Excellent Article, get him as the PR man asap.

[Joso]

I love John Barnes and he is by far the smartest footballer I've ever heard speak.

[Code72]

Originally Posted by Arthur Friedenreich

Also next time the press bring up tokenism in favour of hiring managers, can we not turn the mirror on them and ask why such a high proportion of uk football reporters are white, bar he nugget Lewis at the mirror, I can't think of another amongst their ranks.

I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday, its a stitch up plain and simple.

Like I have maintained all through this sorry saga, these so called journalists lnow fuck all about what racism really is and if its so important for them what do they do to fight the real problem, the everyday racism on the streets, in the offices etc.

They do fuck all, because in reality they could not give a fuckas it does not concern them.

Barnes knows.

[moof]

A true legend, and not just for the way he's spoken on this subject

[Whelan]

I can remember John Barnes being booed playing for England! First time that I have ever heard a player being booed whilst playing for his country. Legend, and a fucking ridiculously talented player.

Very intelligent man and as Nick Davies argues, Journalists really don't have a great knowledge of the subject that they are working on, they find the information and ask 'experts'. But of course if you hold your chin in your hands, and no sagely at a point made slowly, you can fool quite a few people! Isn't that right Patrick?

[davelfc]

Wise words from JB there but there are not many that will listen in the media, they want their pound of flesh, they want their 24 hour news channel filled with controversy so people will watch.

He makes excellent points, if there was a man to head this government investigation then you have your man, I just don't believe they want anyone with his intelligence or common sense anywhere near something like that.

[Peflecan]

Love him as a player and as a man, and of course his legendary rapping skills haha, one quick question though.....where did he pick up the "Digger" nickname?