Raheem Sterling speaks out after suffering racial abuse

Raheem Sterling spoke out after cameras caught a group of Chelsea fans hurling racial insults at the Manchester City forward.

A person can only endure so much and Raheem Sterling has had enough. Following the match between Chelsea and Manchester City, Sterling posted a statement on his Instagram page speaking out on the incident during the game. He mentioned that at this point he “just had to laugh” because he doesn’t expect any better.

Of note in his post is the blame he laid on the media. Sterling included two headlines by the Daily Mail of teammates Tosin Adarabioyo and Phil Foden and the difference in the headlines after both bought a house for their mothers.

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In the post, Sterling went on to write about how the different wording puts the black player in a bad light. He also said it “helps fuel racism an aggressive behaviour, so for all the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age all I have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity an give all players an equal chance.”

The part about the media is of importance because for too long certain British tabloids have printed sensationalized stories often involving Sterling himself either because he bought his mother a house or had the audacity to go on a vacation. At the same time, writing something incredibly different when it’s not a black player.

Now that he’s publicly come out and laid blame to the media, everyone seems to be coming out of the woodwork when before there were only a handful of journalists and pundits coming out against the tabloids and the treatment Raheem Sterling was receiving. Players suffering racial abuse at a match isn’t the first time it’s happened.

Just a few weeks ago, a fan threw a banana peel at Arsenal striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, after he scored in the North London Derby. The problem, in addition to the racism, is the outrage will only last a while before everyone moves on.

Stan Collymore, in The Guardian, wrote, “So yes, we have a race problem in this country and it’s nice to see so many people acknowledge that. Especially all the white middle‑class men who work in the national, mainstream media who simply couldn’t wait to get on Twitter on Sunday and tell the world how they feel Sterling’s pain and how it’s time to ease not only that pain but the pain of all young black people in this country.”

“Yet how much do you want to bet that, come Monday morning, this will all be forgotten by those same people? They’ll move on to the next story, feeling they’ve done their bit, while in truth they have done nothing at all,” Collymore continued.

Collymore’s right. Everyone will either move on after a week or so or find a way to blame Sterling and players who receive abuse.

If that notion sounds farfetched, it’s not. Despite those coming out in support of Sterling, talkSPORT’s Dave Kitson all but blamed Sterling. He said he believed players make themselves a target.

What have they done to make themselves a target? It’s simply an example of victim blaming and one we see way too often.

Nonetheless, credit to Raheem Sterling who was finally fed up and spoke up. Unfortunately, he’s not the only player who has had to endure this and probably won’t be the last. With the media still able to spin a narrative, perhaps it’s time writers, editors, and headline writers take a look at what type of content they publish.