I'm not for a moment suggesting that there aren't still racist elements in the fanbase, I think it would be naive to suggest overwise. I think for the vast majority of fan though that really isn't something they believe or follow. If you don't know the connotations of the Yid term though, and you hear Spurs fans proudly singing about being the Yid Army, it certainly makes it a lot more difficult to send a clear message that its an offensive term.
You can't use that 'black people use the n word' example because most Spurs fans are not Jewish (I found an online article that put it at 5-10%), so despite the historical links to the Jewish community you shouldn't get any kind of free pass on that, any more than white people who associate with black groups and thinking its ok to use the n word as a result would.
As I said, it doesn't justify other fans using it, but it sure as hell doesn't help. It normalizes it, and makes youngsters who are in a big crowd and hear a chant going around far less likely to understand that what they're singing along with is actually deeply offensive. Hopefully things like the Morata and club statements will go some way to helping educate people, but non-Jewish Spurs fans should cut it out too.
And rightly so, considering, as I said, that the fiercest anti-semitic abuse still comes from our lovely Eastern and Western neighbours. But yes, I would say that of course the majority of Chelsea fans are not racist or anti-semitic.
I don't think that is the case at all. Again, I know you and Theafonis will repudiate the link with African-Americans using the term Nigger (which I will come to a bit later) but it is like arguing that of course young white Americans now can only be confused by African-Americans using the term nigger over and over again, in their songs, their vernacular, their terms of endearment and their insults. It does not. I would think that most people can (hopefully) appreciate that the term is offensive for a white person to call a black person, regardless of whether Snoop Dogg goes around calling 50 Cent his nigger.
And coming to the association now. No, I don't think anyone has tried to claim that our fanbase is mostly Jewish now (in fact, at a push, I'd say in terms of total Jewish fans, I'd imagine Arsenal would have more than us now). That is not the point though. At one point, teams would come to WHL and shout the most horrific anti-semitic abuse. That wasn't aimed just at our Jewish fans but the club and its fans as a whole. Knowing our connection with the Jews in the area. This didn't just involve shouting Yids at us (though it originated with that). It involved singing songs about Rabbis, foreskins, Hitler and hissing at us, before, during and after the game. This was not done towards Arsenal, who also have had a historically high Jewish population but towards Tottenham and especially from fans of other London clubs. Instead of repudiating our very close links to the Jewish community, instead of allowing these racists to continue to weaponise the term, we took back the term and used it a source of pride. To remove the sting from the insults from others.
So Yes. Fans of other clubs come and sing anti-semitic abuse at our fans, many of whom were Jews, historically at least, including the word Yid. Tottenham fans take the use of that word back, directed, as it was, not just towards our Jewish fans but towards the club as a whole. Some fans of other clubs still use it and, pathetically, try to then even subtly victim blame by suggesting that if only Spurs fans would stop chanting it, then these poor, misguided youths wouldn't chant these songs.
Give me a break.
(Though yes, I agree that hopefully education will help cut it out).
