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Samuel Eto’o Is Determined To Fight Racism

Samuel-Eto-o-Lions-indomptable/via Cameroon voice.com

Samuel-Eto-o-Lions-indomptable/via Cameroon voice.com

There are certain moments in life, that you are faced with a situation where you have no option than to take the bull by it’s horns. Samuel Eto’o, Premier League footballer, a hero in his native Cameroon, and one of the most successful African footballers of all time is after all just human. It happened in London where he decided to purchase one particular model of a watch worth $15,000 according to CNN.com. In an article on cnn.com (‘Samuel Eto’o fights racism: ‘Not on my watch’ by James Masters and Patrick Sung-Cuadrado) the following incident is described: ‘So after taking a glance at the watch and getting out his credit card, he says he asked the sales assistant for some help. “I asked the saleswoman who was also black like me- ‘Could you show me that watch please?’ “First, I saw her turn and look at her coworkers like, ‘Uh, what should I do?'”Eventually, she let me see the watch. I looked at it and said, ‘OK, I’ll buy it.’ “I took out my credit card and when she went to go run it through the machine, she came back and said that it was declined. “I asked her, ‘Was it declined or did you not want it to be accepted?’ because this has happened to me many times and she told me, ‘No, it was declined.’ To cut a long story short, the sales lady refused payment because (accroding to CNN) “We had some Nigerians in the store the other day who came with fake credit cards.” So Eto’o takes up the story by asking, ‘If one of my own makes a mistake, they judge us all’. Tomorrow, if a white man in Africa makes a mistake, we should judge all white people? No! At the end of the Eto’o says he doesn’t think the sales lady is a racist as she admits that what she did was a mistake. Eto’o who has experienced racism in football, is determined to fight it long as it takes because racism in footbal only reflects what already exist in our societies. Eto’o was presented with the European Medal of Tolerance from the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation following a ceremony in London earlier this week.

 

 

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