The former Mali and Sevilla striker wants an all-inclusive approach in the battle against the ‘lesser evil’
Frederic Kanoute feels that the world is still not doing enough to eradicate racism.
Attention seems to be gradually shifting from the coronavirus pandemic which enforced a protracted suspension to racism which has led to a series of protests globally.
The latest is the death of George Floyd – a black American who died in police custody in Minneapolis last week.
During a LaLiga conference to herald the resumption of Spanish football, Sevilla’s all-time highest league goal-scorer Kanoute expressed his dissatisfaction with how the ‘lesser evil’ is being handled.
“That I’m satisfied, certainly not. There are still a lot of things to do to fight racism across the globe,” the ex-Mali international told Goal.
“Like I have always said, if there is racism on the pitch, then it happens in the society and it’s a lesser evil. It is worse for people who are not privileged to play football.
“When we are black and everyone knows us, you suffer less from racism. So, we have to think about those who are not in this situation first. Obviously, we have to tackle racism in society as a whole.”
Yakubu Ayegbeni, Mutiu Adepoju, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and Lewis Hamilton were among several popular sportsmen to have spoken out in the wake of Floyd’s death.
Marcus Thuram and Jadon Sancho, meanwhile, displayed anti-racism gestures and messages during their goal celebrations in the German elite division.
But the 42-year-old claims that those gestures, slogans and social media campaigns would do little in curbing the menace.
“I will encourage all the football associations to do much more because what it happening in our society proves that we haven’t done enough,” he continued.
“It will take much more than hashtags and slogans and a few protests as everything comes back to normal after two weeks.
“I think it will have to be an ongoing process and it’s not going to be easy because that has been happening for a very long time.
“Everyone has to look into the mirror, think about what to do and try to make the situation better.”
Kanoute starred for Los Nervionenses from 2005 to 2012 before heading to the Chinese Super League.
Before then, he won two Uefa Cups and two Copa del Rey titles with the Seville-based outfit.
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