Barcelona defender Jules Kounde and Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni have both used their visibility to ask for justice, following a disastrous police killing in their native France.
This week has seen mass protests in France after a policeman opened fire on a 17-year-old black teenager by the name of Nahel. During a police check on a car, Nahel tried to drive off and the police shot him dead immediately.
The incident has understandably caused anger and fear in France, raising questions of racism, profiling and police brutality. Kounde took to Twitter to express his feelings on the matter, and express his frustration at the media coverage of the matter.
“A 17-year-old young man shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer for refusing to comply during a check. This is the reality of the situation and it is dramatic.”
“As if this new police blunder was not enough, the continuous news channels are making a big deal out of it.”
“Scenes that are disconnected from reality, “journalists” who ask “questions” with the sole aim of distorting the truth, criminalising the victim and finding extenuating circumstances where there are none.”
“A method as old as the world to hide the real problem.
What if we turned off the TV for a bit to find out?”
Un jeune homme de 17 ans abattu à bout portant par un policier pour un refus d’obtempérer lors d’un contrôle. Telle est la réalité de la situation et elle est dramatique.
Comme si cette nouvelle bavure policière ne suffisait pas les chaînes d'information en continu en font leurs…
— Jules Kounde (@jkeey4) June 27, 2023
Predictably Kounde was hit with the tired argument that as a footballer he should not be allowed to express any humanity, which the 24-year-old had an equally eloquent response for.
“It’s quite funny to read all the frustration and disdain that some people emanate when an athlete or more particularly a footballer in my case speaks out on social issues. As if we were locked in a box in which we would be prohibited from giving our opinion on subjects which concern us in the same way as any other citizen. Because yes, if we had to remember, we are people and citizens before being footballers, which gives us the same duties but also the same rights, including that of expressing ourselves on what we want.”
C’est assez drôle de lire toute la frustration et le dédain qui émanent de certaines personnes lorsqu’un athlète ou plus particulièrement un footballeur dans mon cas s’exprime sur des sujets de société.
Comme si nous étions enfermés dans une boîte dans laquelle il nous serait…— Jules Kounde (@jkeey4) June 28, 2023
His French national teammate Tchouameni published his own lengthy thread on Twitter, sharing his heartbreak. He asked for better media coverage, and for the police to become accountable for their actions, less they lose the faith of the public.
Nahel aurait pu être mon petit frère. Et j'ai le coeur brisé quand j'entends sa mère parce que c'est la voix de ma mère que j'entends.
On ne refera pas l'histoire et on ne changera pas le monde sur les réseaux sociaux… pic.twitter.com/MmVzUC0mRh
— Tchouameni Aurélien (@atchouameni) June 28, 2023
“Nahel could have been my little brother. And I’m heartbroken when I hear his mother because it’s my mother’s voice that I hear. We won’t rewrite history and we won’t change the world on social networks…”
“But I would like to understand why for years, young people have been dying during police checks that seem trivial. Understand why the trigger seems much less heavy when it comes to a certain type of individuals.”
“Understand why a video had to come out for the case not to be covered up. Understand why some seek to oppose Nahel and Lola, as if one could only have trouble for one or the other.
Also understand why some journalists have fun with absurd innuendos and stir up hatred.”
“The Hate U Give Little Infants F**** Everybody. Hate threatens to divide us. It can make us forget that the vast majority of police officers carry out their mission with respect for fundamental rights and sometimes in very difficult conditions.”
“Now what? Social networks are noisy for a while. Then we resume the course of our lives until another mother, another family wakes up one morning to learn that one of their own is gone.”
“If you have a miracle recipe, I am willing to take it. I do not have any.”
“I know that the use of force by the police is not necessarily illegal.”
“I also know that the central question lies in the happy medium between the legitimacy and the illegality of the use of force.”
“And I know finally that it is essential to restore the confidence of the citizens towards their Police, that any absence of justice incites doubt in the actions of the forces of order.”
“Because Nahel was our little brother. And in France, the Fraternity must still mean something.”
The fraternity he references refers to the French national motto, which reads ‘liberty, equality, fraternity.’
Pigs have always been brutal in France, like this is something new?
In fact theyre infamous for it.