Just as everyone was waiting for the dust to settle after the John Terry racism trial, a new race related football story broke over the weekend. Every newspaper has been reporting that Rio Ferdinand replied to a Twitter user and appeared to agree with them calling Ashley Cole a 'choc ice'; an insult that could be interpreted as saying that Cole is black on the outside and white inside.
Now I'm not writing this to condemn or defend anyone. I can't interpret what was in Rio's mind or how he meant the comment, and he has already come out and said he didn't mean it in that way. Ashley Cole has also come out to say he is cool with Rio and hasn't taken offence. What I want to do is explain why there is all the uproar over what seems to be a pretty tame insult, and why I feel insults like that are about the worst you could hear as a black person.
When I was about 12 years old, I was spat at and insulted during a breaktime by a boy who was a few years above me, because he saw me talking to a girl of a different race. The boy was Indian, and he was angry at me, a black guy, for talking to this white girl, who I only happened to be friends with from my form class.
Calling someone a choc ice, or a bounty, or anything similar is the same sort of principle. Its someone saying that you're a traitor to your race, and want to get in with people of a different race because you want to get ahead, because you want to be a different race, or because you hate who you are.
It is today's equivalent of calling someone an Uncle Tom; saying that they would sell people down the river just to look good to another race. Insults like this are also basically saying that everyone should stick to their own race and fit a certain racial stereotype, otherwise they are betraying their people. I'm not having that. Its the 21st century and we should be past this. Therefore, I do hope that people can see why I hope to see terms like 'choc ice' die out.
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