Berlin (AFP) – Bayern Munich star Jerome Boateng says he still suffers racism, including enduring regular monkey chants, despite having helped Germany to the 2014 World Cup.
The 30-year-old, who has a Ghanaian father, told lifestyle magazine ‘Boa’, which he himself launched, that the explosive issue of immigration in the country has only made the situation worse.
“When I’m warming up on the sidelines I can often hear monkey chants. Me, who played so many matches for Germany,” said the Berlin-born Boateng, who has played 76 times for the German national side.
“Sometimes they’ll say things like ‘go home to your own country’ or they’ll just shout something like ‘you black shit’.”
Boateng, whose brother Kevin-Prince chose to play for Ghana, described several racist incidents from his childhood when parents of opposition players made him cry with their abuse.
He also believes the refugee issue in Germany has made people more wary and liable to label people by their origins.
“One for the Germans, one for the migrants,” said Boateng who was left out of the German squad on Friday for forthcoming matches against Russia and the Netherlands.
“And now there’s another for Germans with foreign parents who are not white, but who feel entirely German because they grew up here. Now we’re being looked at with an air of suspicion.”
