Schema Magazine

Photo courtesy of sports.nationalpost.com

Several weeks ago, the deputy mayor of Gdansk, Poland thanked the city's residents and employees for behaving well as the city hosts the Euro 2012 football championship. Gdansk was full of rowdy football fans from over 16 nations across Europe, so Deputy Mayor Bojanowski was understandably grateful that operations were running smoothly: normal, civilized, and—wait a second, what did he say?

"I thank residents and city employees for behaving like normal civilized white people toward our guests, who have in turn also behaved like normal white people," he said in a radio broadcast.

To his credit, Bojanowski promptly published an apology in a local paper. A representative from a Polish anti-racism group, Foundation for Freedom, said that they were sure the deputy mayor meant no ill will; he is simply a product of a culture deeply rooted in stereotypes and xenophobia. Makes sense to me.

Bojanowski's statement is downright surreal to hear, because there's just no possibility of a North American politician saying something so obviously, utterly, and unambiguously racist. I feel like if any government official in North America publicly thanked "civilized white people," a fiery chasm would crack open under their feet and they would plunge down to the earth's core and be incinerated—or something else equally catastrophic.