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Goal.commentary: The Forgotten Tragedy
The Togolese national team has been terrorized and too few seem to care.
Jan 10, 2010 1:36:26 PM
By Isaac Heath
Friday, January 8th, most of us here in United States woke up, grabbed our coffee, kissed our kids goodbye for the day, and then headed off to work with only the usual problems to worry about.
Thousands of miles away across the Atlantic Ocean in Cabinda, Angola, the Togolese soccer team was met by rebel machine guns en route to the African Cup of Nations, and disgustingly, not many in the American media seem to care.
People need to take a second to focus in on the last sentence. Read it out loud, and listen to the words “machine guns”. Try, if at all possible, to imagine this situation. Yet has the world even heard much about this event?
Sadly, what Americans have been inundated with instead is most likely the latest pointless opinion column on what Tiger Woods should do with his life, or possibly the news was too clouded over by the possibility that, gasp, Conan O’Brien may get moved back to his old time slot and be replaced by his predecessor Jay Leno in late-night television.
The reality is that unless people were soccer fans and visited several different soccer centric websites (and even then the coverage is sporadic at best) they probably have hardly heard anything about the tragic shootings of the Togolese national team.
Yet this story isn't just about soccer, is it? No.
This is so much bigger than soccer, and frankly it has opened my eyes to a much larger problem within our culture, world, and certainly the media outlets. I brought this tragedy up to several of my friends and family these past two days, and shockingly found that hardly anyone knew about any machine gun massacre, much less that Togo was involved.
Sure, Africa is a long way away from the United States, and sure it is the African Cup of Nations tournament, but the lack of attention and concern over this is beyond ridiculous.
How is this needless bloodshed somehow deemed less important of coverage than Pete Carroll possibly leaving the USC Trojans, or for soccer geeks out there, Landon Donovan’s debut with Everton? Think about that.
Today I have asked myself over and over again why so few seem to care about these killings. Why do the deaths of an assistant coach, a spokesperson for the team, a bus driver, and the physical and emotional injuries to several of the Togolese players not matter more to us?
As a member of the media, I apologize to Togo for the complete and utter lack of reverence and respect. I searched several websites and TV news outlets and found very few features on this shooting.
Additionally, many of these websites that contained stories and information merely mentioned it as an afterthought. Is this not news? Is this not tragic? Shall we choose to ignore the magnitude of this?
I am one who has often believed that race is focused on too much in the media when it should not always be the focal point, but this tragedy and the pitiful worldwide media response surrounding it screams of racism.
If this were the US national team, the English national team, or pretty much any other European country, would the coverage be the same? I felt queasy and uncomfortable when I asked myself this question, because the answer was sickening.
As I said before, this goes far beyond the realm of sport. The blatant overlooking of the developing world is mind-boggling, with the response to this violent tragedy just another example in a history full of neglect. Africa long has been a nation that has suffered and whose woes have been forgotten. Much of the continent has been colonized, taken advantage of, and then left alone to pick up the pieces.
Togo is a nation that only fifty years ago became independent from France. Over half of the population lives under one US dollar a day, and for some reason, it seems as though the economic status of this nation and its inhabitants somehow renders its tragedies as unimportant. If Togo was a big player in the world economy, this story would probably be more important to the media.
No, this apathy towards the third world and its suffering and struggles is not new. After all, it took nearly a year for the world to take notice of the mass genocide occurring in Rwanda in 1994, so this should not surprise us. However, it should disturb us.
If anything, I pray that this may be a reminder and wake up call to the citizens of the world and to the media. I hope that we realize and rectify our callousness to feel for those that experience tragedy and loss no matter where it occurs. I desire a world that will be a voice for those that cannot be heard. The Togo soccer tragedy needs to be recognized and the story of the players told.
Monday morning much of the world will get up once again and grab their coffee, kiss their kids goodbye, and head off to work. The Togo players, who at one point were reportedly planning to play the tournament, now appear to be heading home instead.
I, for one, intend to reflect, lift up, and to stand with the Togolese national team whether they end up playing or not, as they continue to struggle to pick up the pieces of a tragedy that the rest of the world seemed not to notice.
Isaac Heath is a contributor to Goal.com
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Friday, January 8th, most of us here in United States woke up, grabbed our coffee, kissed our kids goodbye for the day, and then headed off to work with only the usual problems to worry about.
Thousands of miles away across the Atlantic Ocean in Cabinda, Angola, the Togolese soccer team was met by rebel machine guns en route to the African Cup of Nations, and disgustingly, not many in the American media seem to care.
People need to take a second to focus in on the last sentence. Read it out loud, and listen to the words “machine guns”. Try, if at all possible, to imagine this situation. Yet has the world even heard much about this event?
Sadly, what Americans have been inundated with instead is most likely the latest pointless opinion column on what Tiger Woods should do with his life, or possibly the news was too clouded over by the possibility that, gasp, Conan O’Brien may get moved back to his old time slot and be replaced by his predecessor Jay Leno in late-night television.
The reality is that unless people were soccer fans and visited several different soccer centric websites (and even then the coverage is sporadic at best) they probably have hardly heard anything about the tragic shootings of the Togolese national team.
Yet this story isn't just about soccer, is it? No.
This is so much bigger than soccer, and frankly it has opened my eyes to a much larger problem within our culture, world, and certainly the media outlets. I brought this tragedy up to several of my friends and family these past two days, and shockingly found that hardly anyone knew about any machine gun massacre, much less that Togo was involved.
Sure, Africa is a long way away from the United States, and sure it is the African Cup of Nations tournament, but the lack of attention and concern over this is beyond ridiculous.
How is this needless bloodshed somehow deemed less important of coverage than Pete Carroll possibly leaving the USC Trojans, or for soccer geeks out there, Landon Donovan’s debut with Everton? Think about that.
Today I have asked myself over and over again why so few seem to care about these killings. Why do the deaths of an assistant coach, a spokesperson for the team, a bus driver, and the physical and emotional injuries to several of the Togolese players not matter more to us?
As a member of the media, I apologize to Togo for the complete and utter lack of reverence and respect. I searched several websites and TV news outlets and found very few features on this shooting.
Additionally, many of these websites that contained stories and information merely mentioned it as an afterthought. Is this not news? Is this not tragic? Shall we choose to ignore the magnitude of this?
I am one who has often believed that race is focused on too much in the media when it should not always be the focal point, but this tragedy and the pitiful worldwide media response surrounding it screams of racism.
If this were the US national team, the English national team, or pretty much any other European country, would the coverage be the same? I felt queasy and uncomfortable when I asked myself this question, because the answer was sickening.
As I said before, this goes far beyond the realm of sport. The blatant overlooking of the developing world is mind-boggling, with the response to this violent tragedy just another example in a history full of neglect. Africa long has been a nation that has suffered and whose woes have been forgotten. Much of the continent has been colonized, taken advantage of, and then left alone to pick up the pieces.
Togo is a nation that only fifty years ago became independent from France. Over half of the population lives under one US dollar a day, and for some reason, it seems as though the economic status of this nation and its inhabitants somehow renders its tragedies as unimportant. If Togo was a big player in the world economy, this story would probably be more important to the media.
No, this apathy towards the third world and its suffering and struggles is not new. After all, it took nearly a year for the world to take notice of the mass genocide occurring in Rwanda in 1994, so this should not surprise us. However, it should disturb us.
If anything, I pray that this may be a reminder and wake up call to the citizens of the world and to the media. I hope that we realize and rectify our callousness to feel for those that experience tragedy and loss no matter where it occurs. I desire a world that will be a voice for those that cannot be heard. The Togo soccer tragedy needs to be recognized and the story of the players told.
Monday morning much of the world will get up once again and grab their coffee, kiss their kids goodbye, and head off to work. The Togo players, who at one point were reportedly planning to play the tournament, now appear to be heading home instead.
I, for one, intend to reflect, lift up, and to stand with the Togolese national team whether they end up playing or not, as they continue to struggle to pick up the pieces of a tragedy that the rest of the world seemed not to notice.
Isaac Heath is a contributor to Goal.com
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