Dredlocks Tree: The Other Pele

I think it's safe to say that everyone around the globe knows who Pele was. If you don't, you're not only living under a rock. You'dead! But the other Pele was Justin Fashanu who represented England. Those of us who are steadily weatching the 2010 World Cup got that die hard soccer appeal. We think more internationally; our scope is wider. We know what it means for the Games to take place in South Africa and for Angelique Kudjo to be the queen of ceremonies--I'm actually writing this while watching USA play the Brits; gives me even more inspiration to be in the moment...England's goalkeeper just caught the ball but then it slipped out of his hands; and the game just started!!!--But like I was saying, futbol is an international sport transcending all colors, income, ethnic and language barriers. There's no nigga smack in soccer. That's more of an American thing. And did you know that in South Africa the word for 'nigger' is kafir? But you won't hear 'What'up, kafir?' or 'That's my main kafir!' Brothas there just don't play that. Only in the States where you see Black boys and Black men call each other by the same derogatory word their plantation masters used to call them. Soccer moms try to turn the Game into a sign of privilege, but futbol is a serious, socio-political force to the rest of us. Just ask Brasil. When they win a Cup, it's not only parties and more parties but multi-ethnic pride. It's the Brazillian jungle letting out all the ancestors, all the slaves who have now become martyrs and gods.

But I'm bringing up Fashanu because it's only right, especially since soccer newbies are on the rise. The least we can do while rooting for our favorite teams is to remember a pro player who killed himself because the British Professional Footballers
Association wouldn't allow him to play

as an openly-gay man. Of course, choosing suicide over self-empowerment is problematic in itself. But that speaks to the politcs of homophobia, stigma and shame; that when the players and fans don't care but the corporations do, a player has to make the complicated decision to be him or herself or lose the contract. Sure, there's teasing from the teammates. But there's teasing regardless. That's just what players do in and out of the locker room. It may very well be that Fashanu just wasn't centered enough to take the teases and perhaps tease right back; give'em something to re-think about. I'm not making light of the F word. I don't like it either, but not for the same reasons. I just resent hearing little boys calling each other 'punk' or 'girl' cos it says being female is a negative; says anything not macho is less than, even if macho is mucho after dark!....I don't like the contradictions that come with that mindset. So maybe the brotha didn't know how to create a family for himself and just play the damn game. That's what Amaechi did, after he told the NBA he was fam and so deal with it! There was some fussing for a couple of weeks. Mostly fascination cos Amaechi didn't fit the assumptions, and then the hype got boring. But all the while he just lived, and then people went back to just living.

Fashanu was also in a bind. He had to represent Black people; and being homosexual isn't something we tend to push. Many of our leaders may be same gender loving but we prefer keeping that on the low. So there was mad pressure on him to present himself a certain way; play it off if he had to, but make it look hetero cos there was lots of money at stake. They wanted him to be a spokesperson-- Just do it! But in an industry where SGL athletes learn to appear hetero to keep the contracts coming, the brotha just couldn't deal. For whatever reasons. Cos there're all types of rumors as to why he committed suicide. There's talk about him stalking this 17yrld kid, but that's too easy; too predictable. Most folks think he just couldn't handle the fassad. Plus, there was the issue of White spectators calling him 'monkey' and throwing bananas on the field. And on top of that he was a born-again Christian. That's like waiting for the warden to tell you you matter! I don't know about you, but this says to me that the man was clinically depressed and seeking that thing each person needs to feel like they matter. He may have very well felt so isolated that he chose to end his life to end his search and rid his pain.

Still, Fashanu made history. As morbid as it may be to bring up suicide during The World Cup, Fashanu is a reminder that the face of British soccer doesn't have to be White and that some men just got more balls than others! Because it takes cojones to refuse to half-live and still snag a two-million-dollar contract; takes guts to runkick a ball across a fig field and score goals for people who look like your teammmates and not you...God bless him, and anyone else who might be going through similar agonies. Desmond Tutu said, "It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred." But Tutu is supposed to say something like that. He's a priest, for Christ's sake. Let Mandela say the same words and see what happens! White people will love it. Black folks will panic. Because we're not used to being our whole selves, so used to counting on someone else to define us and being fragmented, as a result.

But we're learning...

The new Pele...