Why I blame Mario Balotelli’s foster parents for his tears over racist taunts

By Scotty Reid – Photos of African soccer player Mario Balotelli, allegedly crying over racist taunts and epithets has been widely distributed on the Internet eliciting sympathy from people all over the world and ridicule from others. While the reason for Balotelli’s tears is not clear, one thing is for certain, you never let racist white supremacists see you cry. If Balotelli was crying over racist taunts from racist European soccer fans, perhaps what is being overlooked is that he was ill prepared to deal with racism by the so-called parents who raised him.

While some might see his emotional reaction as normal, I have never seen a photo of Black children crying who were thrown to the racist wolves in America during the integration of public schools. I have never seen a photo of any of the Black athletes in America who integrated professional sports crying over racist fans hurling racist insults. Instead, what we saw was Black people who were pillars of strength and dignity in the face of racist taunts and being called niggers on daily basis. Showing weakness in the face of bullying and racism only encourages more of the same.

I am inclined to believe that Balotelli was crying as an emotional and psychological response to being raised to reject his African roots to the point that he took on a white identity and unable to understand why a large number of white racists reject him and see him as a Black African and not as one of them. After all, he is not the only Black person in Italy who has had to endure public mistreatment at the hands of racists over the past few years. Because the Balotelli family never formally adopted him, he had to wait until his 18^th birthday to apply for Italian citizenship and following the ceremony declared, “I am Italian, I feel Italian, I will forever play with the Italy national team.”

One can only speculate about whether or not Balotelli was prepared properly to deal with the cruelties of racism by the Italian foster family that raised him. I have determined that  Balotelli first became a victim of racism when Italian authorities took him from his biological Ghanaian parents and placed him with the Balotelli family whom he lived with during the weekdays only visiting with his real family on the weekends. Did the Balotelli family practice racism and white supremacy and turn the three-year-old child against his African parents as it was reported that he became detached and indifferent towards them leading to him being placed errantly in the full custody of the Balotelli family who are Italian Ashkenazi Jews?

It was reported that when Balotelli visited Auschwitz with teammates in 2012, he was affected more than anyone. I have to ask, did his foster parents ever teach him about the  African holocaust that lasted over 400 years and some would say is still ongoing. What would his reaction be to visiting the ports of his ancestral home in Ghana where Africans were held in chains as they awaited the slave ships that would carry them to points unknown during the enslaved African trade? I wonder what he thinks of the monument and memorial erected in Italy honoring the convicted war criminal Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani. Graziani is infamously known for his ordering the slaughter of Libyans and Ethiopians during WWII and other war crimes. I wonder if he knows and what his thoughts are on the racism practiced against African immigrants in Israel?

Mario Balotelli is a confused Black male victim of white supremacy who has experienced a lifetime of racism that started long before he stepped on the soccer fields of Europe. He is a cautionary tale for all non-white children being raised by racist suspects.