African hoopsters reveal Bengaluru's ugly face

bad pass

As the US drowns in an effort to douse a flame fanned by racism, athletes among common folk have painted painful pictures of discrimination in the world.

Closer home, barring refrained tales of insularity from those affected and an inadequate show of support from others, the #BlackLivesMatter movement hasn’t forced questions uncomfortable enough for people to find answers. Not even in the field of sport.

“People are not even aware they are being racist in India,” says Ateng Emmanuel, a student-athlete from Uganda who came to Bengaluru on a basketball scholarship in 2012. “We learnt over time to blank it out.”

When probed further Ateng, who represented Bharath Union and Beagles in Karnataka Basketball Association’s league and now is playing for his national team, reveals that words like ‘monkey’, ’pig’, ‘donkey’ and worse, the N-word, were commonplace when he and some of his fellow countrymen were on the court.

“When referees and coaches start making racist remarks what can you do? They would say nasty things to us and they would allow for fouls which they never would on Indians. They would tell us to our faces that we should be able to handle it because we’re black,” reveals the lithe power forward.

“One referee even told us we have green blood,” he laughs.