The Thai Football Association has issued a lifetime ban to Thai referee Mr. Somsak Poosomnuek for using a racial slur in Thai, equivalent to the N-word (‘Ai Dam’), against Abdulkordiri Hamid, a Thai-Ghanaian football player fluent in Thai, during a third division game. In his defense, he claimed it wasn’t racist, pointing to his own darker skin tone compared to the typical Thai individual. Additionally, he noted that his friends have consistently referred to him as ‘Ai Dam’ throughout his life.
Source:
https://www.siamsport.co.th/football-thailand/thaileague-3/35815/
https://www.siamsport.co.th/football-thailand/thaileague-3/37131/
Apparently this is another photo of the ref (on the left, obvs). Can anyone confirm?
If so, a more accurate defence might be “I can’t be racist because I tan sometimes”.
Is there a threshold you need to reach in terms of skin color to identify as black? cause I know being black is about ethnicity not the skin color, referee subject aside, I find this whole “you don’t look black enough, or you’re not THAT black” argument to not make sense at all, I know many “blacks” who are more light skinned than that referee…
Except the insults are towards the tan skinned Thai people, not towards the black race.
Being tan in Thailand implies the person is ‘working under the sun’ like labourers or farmers class thus they have lower in social status.
Its like calling someone redneck or homeless. Not race specific insult.
The articles is wrong about the ref calling himself as a black race person, instead he call himself a lower working class people.
One thing I hate about people on the internet is people who think the world revolved around them and their social problem applies everywhere in the planet. Black people barely exist in Thai, you’d think there’s a black race specific insults made there?