Racism and harassment by stadium security at MLS games needs to be stopped!
As I read what Chicago supporters’ groups are going through, I am reminded of incidents that sparked a “near riot”, according to police accounts, at a Houston game. The unfortunate incident involved El Batallon (a Houston Dynamo supporters’ group whose member base is primarily Latino), stadium security, campus police and the Houston Police Department.
What started off as a typical accident in a supporters’ group section of someone getting hit in the face by a cloth flag escalated to people being threatened to be arrested en masse.
Relations with stadium security were never good from the start. We have two supporters’ groups in Houston, El Batallon and the Texian Army. But there was always an uneasy tension in the air when we (EB) were surrounded by security. It was obvious that security had never worked a soccer event, and was never briefed on what to expect from the supporters’ groups. The fact that we would get treated differently from the other group helped fuel that tension. We would always have more security around us, we would be subject to stricter searches at the gate and so on. There were a couple of isolated incidents prior, but everything erupted on that one day. What should have been brushed off as an accident quickly escalated out of control because of security staff and their attitude towards our group as a whole. An ‘us against them attitude’ had already been established.
The security staff forcefully tried to take the flag away from our guy after he had apologized to the lady for accidentally hitting her. Security made the mistake of challenging some of our guys to a fight when they were denied the flag, but it was eventually handed over, calling all their security staff to intimidate the group by shoving and yelling, grabbing some of our guys and threatening to arrest them. When some in the group refused to back down for being treated unjustly they (security) ran to police. When the police get there some of the leadership in EB tried to talk things over with HPD, but having security telling the cops that they need to, “Arrest some of these Mexican mother fuckers,” (among other worse things being yelled at our group by security not worth repeating here) we knew the situation had escalated beyond our control. We kept most of our people cool because we knew once the police got involved it’s a no win situation for us inside the stadium. We decided the best possible option was to walk out. We felt we let the team down by doing so, but it was the only thing that we could do to stop the incident from really escalating to a riot.
During the week that followed it was decided that the treatment by security was unacceptable. Having complained to the FO on other occasions with little results, we decided to stage a protest. The first thing we did was visit the team practice and explained the situation to the players and coaches. We told them we were planning a protest but that it had nothing to with them. They had our back and were very understanding, something we as a group will never forget. The next game we protested by sitting down and not chanting or even standing for 20 minutes. The protest worked, but only because the Dynamo front office realized how serious charges of racism and abusive behavior towards their patrons really are.
We negotiated in a meeting that the F.O. would remove security from our section and place more of a responsibility on us by having a small group of us look after the sections and basically police ourselves. We have a core group of about 15 to 20 guys who basically control the section. We deal directly with HPD and one main head of security during every single game. The agreement has worked very well as there are a lot less fights and we are also able to manage situations a lot better before they escalate out of hand. There has not been one incident involving security and our group since the changes were implemented. I am absolutely certain if we did not have a front office that was at least willing to hear our suggestions and make improvements, things would have never progressed.
It’s sad to say that in Chicago it seems the front office isn’t even willing to acknowledge the seriousness of the charges of abusive force against the group and, even worse, the racism. Brushing it under the rug doesn’t just hurt the supporters’ groups but the Chicago Fire organization as a whole. It is worth noting that rather than just not bothering to even show up, Section 8 and Sector Latino bought their tickets, went to the game and decided to protest instead for change: to better what is a bad situation and also push the team on. In the end, all supporters want to do is support their home team as best they can and the day you don’t show up at all is the day you stop caring about the team.
Tags: Houston Dynamo
Supporter Solidarity Against Racism
Fire fans last night traveled down to Peoria for their US Open Cup game with the Columbus Crew, and brought with them a homemade banner intended to kickstart a campaign against racism.
The banner was paid for by fans in Section 8, painted in neutral colors to reflect the non-partisan nature of the effort.
Leaders of Section 8 Chicago, the independent supporters association for Fire fans, arranged before the game that fans of both Columbus and Chicago would go on to the field with the banner, which would then be signed by players of both teams before the game.
The Fire fans were led on to the field by a Fire employee, and then located the Crew fans they had met before the game to join them on the field. A few photos were taken on the field with the fans.
The banner reads ‘Chicago-Columbus’ at the top, and then ‘Fans Against Racism’ in English, Spanish and Polish.
Unfortunately, the supporters were then left alone on the field, and the Fire had apparently failed to inform the police that they had permission to be out there. The police then removed the fans from the field, who received no help from the Fire employee who had led them out there.
Despite this, the Fire fans then hung up the banner by the side of the field, and took more photos with fans of both teams after the game.
The Crew supporters were then given the banner to take back to Columbus. The Fire play there on July 5th, and Section 8 will take back the banner then, hopefully after having the players of the Fire and Crew sign it on the field before the game.
A first step has been taken in this campaign to kick racism out of American soccer. Follow this blog for updates on future efforts.
Tags: Anti-racism banner, Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew
Fighting racism from the ground up
On Tuesday, June 8th, the Chicago Fire play Columbus Crew in Peoria, Illinois. Fire fans will be bringing a banner that reads “Fans Against Racism”, as a step towards uniting all soccer fans to fight racism.
The Fire fans plan to have players of both teams sign the banner, and will then invite the Columbus fans to take the banner back to Crew Stadium until the two teams meet again on July 5th.
Check back here for updates on the event and the development of this campaign.
Tags: Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew