Earlier this week, Egyptian soccer sensation Mohamed Salah sat down with CNN’s Becky Anderson for a lengthy interview worthy of a thousand sound bites. The Liverpool forward opened up about his dissatisfaction with the Egyptian Football Association and his contentment at the European club, before sounding off on the Amr Warda controversy and virtue signaling his continued commitment to feminism for the benefit of the network’s white audience. The issue is not Salah’s anodyne suggestion that Warda seek treatment for his socially acceptable ‘affliction’ of sexually harassing women and, allegedly, underage girls. It is not even Salah’s own defense of Warda. Salah is guilty of a far greater crime: playing the reformed Arab savage. Being one of few Egyptian soccer players to attain such international renown, Salah has to pay the price of admission into white hearts. It is a toll they never fail to exact from any person of color. To ascend to a place of global wealth and fame, no matter the caliber of their talent, a person of color has to meet superhuman requirements, but first they must concede that their non-whiteness is some sort of a…
The Reformed Arab Savage: On Becky Anderson’s Racism and Mo Salah’s Hypocrisy
August 23, 2019
