Triantafillos Loukarelis, manager of the government office against racial discrimination, discussed the headline of Thursday’s paper edition of the Rome based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, ‘Black Friday’, in an interview in today’s newspaper edition of the same paper.
First, Loukarelis gave his thoughts on the reaction to the headline.
“There is an ongoing attack on a newspaper that in recent months has been very comprehensive in highlighting values related to sport, football, and speaking out clearly against racism.”
He then spoke about the headline itself.
“I think it was a mistake. An error in good faith that can happen. I would appeal to the world of journalism on the subject of language. Let’s imagine a front page where we talk about ‘White Friday’ about Dzeko and Lautaro. It would seem to be the cover of a white supremacist newspaper. The opposite perplexity is also true.”
Finally, Loukarelis suggested that it wasn’t inherently a racist headline.
“Clearly not. That’s why I say that it’s absurd to argue between people who all agree in their commitment to anti-discrimination. I would invite the two clubs that closed their sports centres to the Corriere dello Sport-Stadio reporters to lift the ban. Such an ostracism is always wrong. Even more so towards a newspaper that has always worked well in the opposition to racism and with which Unar is ready to cooperate.”
