Crying teenager reminds us how much racism hurts

Listen, please, to the crying teenager.

- Rohit Brijnath

"No, no, no."

"Are you serious?"

"You're not going to ask about the act of racism they did towards me?"

Luighi is 18 and plays football for Palmeiras' Under-20 side. It's a club in Sao Paolo in Brazil. You probably don't know him, which is understandable because he's not famous. But maybe you should take 55 seconds to watch the video of him talking to a reporter last week.

Tears are slipping down his cheeks. His voice is breaking.

"How long are we going to go through this?"

"Until when?"

He was referring to a dehumanising incident in Paraguay while playing against Cerro Porteno U-20. A Reuters report states that a man in the stands made monkey noises. Luighi was substituted and wept on the bench. Every time it happens, and it happens too often in football, racism leaves a fresh bruise.

This story hasn't been widely reported perhaps because Luighi isn't a star, the match isn't important, and mostly we're concerned with who beat whom this weekend, what Liverpool's lead is, how calmly Rohit Sharma played, Maureen Koster's awful fall, the slow slide of Novak Djokovic. Drama compels us more than the ugly stench of sport. It's always easier to look away.

And yet, of course, we can't. We shouldn't. Not when a crying kid is saying this.

"What they did to me was a crime."