– People are shocked. There are many who do not believe that this is happening, says Bakenga to news. The interview takes place just over half an hour after the Norwegian-Congolese footballer chose to share some of the messages that have ended up in his inbox on Instagram. The messages are so crude that news chooses not to reproduce them, and contain condescending and racist remarks against Bakenga and his family. – It sometimes happens with Vinícius Júnior in Real Madrid and Lukaku in Inter, and people think that “this doesn’t happen here”. It’s always the classic, “we didn’t know this would happen to you, to you in Norwegian football”, but it does. That people are shocked actually makes it even more important to get it up and running, says the 30-year-old. – Harder and harder words Bakenga says that he has experienced racism throughout his football career – if not his whole life. And despite a lot of attention to the problem, he does not feel that the situation has improved. On the contrary. – It has become more and more recently. There have been harsher and harsher words, and they are sent not only to me, but also to people around to catch me. I think that’s a real shame, he says seriously. HEAR IT: Mushaga Bakenga missed from the penalty spot against Sandefjord. Then the inbox overflows with racism. Photo: NTB The scope is affected by the performance on the football field. After he missed a penalty against Sandefjord on Sunday, a new wave came. – How does it feel? – To be completely honest, I don’t care. It’s clear that I’ve become quite hard-nosed over the years. I don’t care for myself, but I do care for others who get this and are actually affected. It is for their part that I get irritated, he says. – Never ends what Bakenga tells about teammates who have been broken by racism. He is most concerned about children and young people. – I know there are many young players who quit football or play with fear because of such messages, and lose their love for the game, so it is really for them that I feel the time has come, he says about why he says from now on. HARD SKIN: Mushaga Bakenga tries to be himself, despite experiencing racism throughout his upbringing and career. Photo: NTB His most important advice is actually quite bleak. Bakenga believes that the best thing to do is to try to let the anger bounce off. – We will never end it, but we can think that our young, dark players in Norway are at least prepared for what is coming, are able to overlook it and are not influenced by it, he says to news. – What does it say about the society we live in when you say that we can’t get rid of this, so we just have to live with it, it’s a sad starting point? – It is very sad. And we can get rid of some of it, but I don’t think it’s ever going to go away because it’s only increased lately, unfortunately. It just says that society is going in the wrong direction, and it has done so for quite a while for those of us who have lived a little, he says. And elaborates: – It seems that because of the internet and social media, it is so much easier to be able to hide behind the keyboard and write off the worst of the worst. – Embarrassed, sad and disturbing Mushaga Bakenga says that he has never reported racism. – But it is sometimes tempting to do so, he acknowledges. – Why haven’t you done it? – I don’t think there is a lesson to be learned here. They want a reaction, and if they don’t get a reaction, I think they eventually get bored themselves. It can’t be any fun to have a life where something happens on a track that you have nothing to do with, and then you have to go in and harass and get no response – then I think you feel even less, says Bakenga On the other hand, he has tried to contact some of those who have sent incitement. Bakenga says that those who answer like to lie completely flat. Most never respond, but instead continue to send the harassment. REACTS: news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt is among those who have allowed themselves to be shocked by the rough messages Bakenga has shared. – It is embarrassing, sad and disturbing that one has not progressed further in this game, but football is and will be a pretext for taking out what must obviously be one’s own frustrations on completely innocent people, says Saltvedt. – You could be so wrong. He is impressed that Bakenga is now speaking out, but hopes he is wrong when he concludes that the problem is impossible to get rid of. – I hope not everyone stays with that reality orientation, because you can’t give up. But it is very sad that it is the way it is. The whole society should have progressed further, says Saltvedt, who understands Bakenga’s starting point. – He has been through a lot of this and knows what he is talking about, and he knows where to start in order to create some kind of security that this is possible to deal with. For a good number of young people, it can be too tough. There are quite ugly things to come, states the sports commentator. Bakenga is a little surprised at how shocking others find the harassment he has to live with. – We had a period during the corona pandemic where there were some football leaders who believed that no, we have no racism in Norwegian football. So you could be wrong. We are very good at distancing ourselves, and therefore the shock is even greater, he notes.
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