THE San Miguel Beermen did annex its recent championship last Friday. Their 102-90 win over the TNT Tropang Texters proved that they are a dynasty. The winningest franchise in Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) history, with 27 PBA titles under their belts was just too much for the Texters to overcome. They came back from 0-3 against the Alaska Aces in 2015-2016 Philippine Cup Finals.
In this series, being down 1-2 was not even alarming from their end. They racked up three straight wins highlighted by the game five come-from-behind win which signaled the start of the end for the Texters.
Amidst all the celebration of their recent title conquest is a not so beautiful side story of racial discrimination instigated by Arwind Santos. Late in the first half of their game five battle, netizens caught Santos with monkey gestures directed towards TNT import Terrence Jones.
In this day and age, it is very unthinkable for Santos to go this low in the guise of “mind games.” Seeing acts of racial discrimination on a nationally televised game magnifies how far we still are in really practicing acceptance of other people regardless of race. While the PBA management quickly addressed and resolved the issue with a stiff P200,000 fine on Santos, done is the damage it has inflicted personally and emotionally.
Discrimination has no place in society. History has a lot of stories of how the Spaniards and Americans discriminated our Filipino ancestors during their colonization of our country, opening up to various injustices and exploitation. We shared the same experiences with our African-American brothers, who were discriminated, exploited, and abused.
Up to now, we still feel the adverse effects of those experiences in the way other countries treat us. Remember the tons of trash we recently sent back to their points of origins? How about the maritime incident?
“The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”
Sports should be the perfect avenue for acceptance and compassion.
Hopefully, this is adhered to by all, not only the amateur athletes but most especially the professional athletes who are idolized by young and future athletes who see them.
If we have failed in promoting human dignity in other areas of society, let us not allow it to happen in sports.