Victor Anichebe has joined the growing number of black football stars agitating against racial abuse as he insisted that the world is losing momentum in the fight against racial discrimination.
The former Everton, West Brom, Everton and Super Eagles of Nigeria striker who stated this while narrating how he suffered racial profiling because he drives a “nice car” in Merseyside, England, stressed that he was tired of the racial discrimination people have to be subjected to because of the color of their skin.
The agitation against racial discrimination has been receiving huge attention since an African-American, George Floyd, was murdered by a white police officer in May 2020. There have been a lot of campaigns against the trend which has been embraced by most football leagues across Europe.
Anichebe who is a citizen of Nigeria and England said that it is not only the blacks that are tired of discrimination. According to him, as blacks want a change so do whites.
Victor Anichebe encounter with the police in Merseyside
On his encounter with the police in Merseyside, Victor Anichebe narrated how he was driving out of a filling station in Merseyside a week ago and then came across a police patrol car driving into the filling station. The 32-year-old football star who is currently without a football club said the police car made a u-turn immediately they spotted that it was a black man that was driving the nice car he was in.
They drove after him for five minutes before they ordered him to pull over. He said the police told him that they went after him because he drove over a kerb. After they exchange words, the police allowed him to go without further action.
“I told them every single thing that I thought. I said it is a joke, a disgrace and it is only because I am black and driving a nice car that you are pulling me over”, Victor Anichebe told Sky Sports.
“They just kept saying the same thing, that this is routine and I shouldn’t be angry. But we are, we are all angry. We are tired of all the things that are going on.
“We don’t want people to feel sorry for us, I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me that any of this is happening. I just want things to start changing and it has to change pretty soon too.”
This is not the first time Anichebe has had such an encounter with the police in England. In 2009, the police approached the former Everton star while he was shopping in Cheshire, England.
When they discovered that he was a footballer and meant no harm, they allowed him to go and the city’s assistant chief constable apologized to the football star on behalf of the police.
“What would happen if that was my brother? That is what I kept saying to them”, Anichebe noted. “What would happen if that was somebody else that didn’t have some kind of status or because I played football and it was more high profile. “What would happen to them? That is just the thing that kept playing on my mind. It’s just not fair.”
Merseyside Police react to Anichebe’s encounter in Merseyside
In response to Victor Anichebe’s encounter with the police in Merseyside a week ago, a police spokesperson told Sky Sports that it was the duty of the police to stop a person that drives over a kerb. He said this was necessary to ascertain whether the person is driving under the influence of alcohol or other reasons.
“It is incumbent on us as a Force to ensure that we keep our roads safe”, the police spokesperson said. “If someone clips a kerb we may stop them to ensure that there is no other reason, such as driving under the influence of either drink or drugs or even illness or a medical episode, both for their protection and that of other road users.
“If the officers are satisfied that this is not the case then the driver will be allowed to carry on without any penalty as was the case in this instance.”
