Billboard sparks anger over ‘racist’ connotation
Athletics enthusiasts are urging the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the IAAF World Under-18 Championship to pull down a controversial billboard advertising the competition set to kick-off on Wednesday.
“That advert is in bad taste. We never compete with monkeys .I’m really shocked an African could not predict the implications of such an advert.
“We are all monkeys that is what the visitors will read into,” said the National Youth Chairman, Barnaba Korir.
Most local sports journalists had a problem explaining to their colleagues including the reporter of this account on the meaning of the advert, considering historical linkage of Africans and the apes.
“I don’t understand that advert, like most here. How will I explain to, say, my son if he quips on the logic of pairing one of the most beautiful pole-vaulters against a dreaded animal whose best place is when we, Africans, are being humiliated,” Muigai Kiunguru, a member of the fourth estate queried.
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