Giannis Antetokounmpo is the child of a Nigerian family. His parents came to Greece from Nigeria with his older brother in their arms, but Giannis was born in Greece. He was selling glasses and CDs to help his family financially. He grew up as a black man in Greece. He was being bullied for his color, until he hugged a basketball in his hands, and it was like he was embracing the whole globe. He started playing basketball in Greece at the age of 7. Νow he is one of the best players in the world and he was named MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the NBA (National Basketball Association) finals twice.
Giannis grew up in Greek culture, learning the language and going to school. But when he was home with his family, he learned to live the Nigerian way. Although he was born in Greece, Antetokounmpo “will never be Greek” in the consciousness of some “Greeks” who cannot bear to see their ideas and worldviews collapsed by a black man.
Giannis in one of his interviews says “Greece is a country of whites; someone’s life can become difficult with the color of my own skin. I was going to many neighborhoods, and I was facing a lot of negativities, racism…. It has been difficult and always will be difficult to be black in a white country, there are times when you feel that you are not who you really are.” From this quote we can see the racism and the bullying he was facing.
Giannis grew up in the xenophobia of the Greeks and the racism. His color was making him to be the “other” because if you want to be the “One” in Greece you must be white. Racists were asking him “does an emigrant have the right to criticize Greece?”. In America, the problem of black oppression has been deeply ingrained for hundreds of years, starting with colonialism, and continuing with racial segregation. In Greece, the problem stems from the ignorance that prevails regarding the differences that are coming from foreign cultures. In my opinion Giannis
is now the “One”, the “Greek Freak” (his nickname after his successes) and the racists are the “others”. All human beings have the right to love as well as criticize a country, where they were born and raised or immigrated to, regardless of the color of their skin.
https://vimeo.com/441633447?fbclid=IwAR3b5O1GOsP39NcUnR7dPByF9BDAQnloe68q-HwP81CmdH0yUz8-oAv0vYs
- “Γιάννης Αντετοκούνμπο: “Η Ελλάδα είναι χώρα λευκών” – Ο ρατσισμός και ο φόβος της απέλασης”. com.(2020, July 24)
- Γ.Αντετοκούνμπο: “Δεν είσαι έλληνας. Είσαι Νιγηριανός γιατί είσαι μαύρος, μου έλεγαν”. (2019, March 6).
- Sweet, J. “Giannis and identity”. Vimeo. (2021, November 5).
I’m glad you wrote about this because I think it is important to acknowledge the hate people receive in their own race for being ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ of it. You would think this would be where he was most accepted as he came from Greece, but unfortunately, they can’t see that. He spent his whole life and start of career not being able to connect with his culture because he wasn’t accepted. And even know, despite his success, I’m sure some people still don’t accept him.
I am a big fan of Giannis so I love that you shared some of his story as I knew him mostly as a basketball player. Its very sad that Giannis never got any love or recognition growing up due to his race. It is not okay that to be seen as valuable he had to become a famous basketball player and there are still many people in Greece who probably won’t support him. There has to be an change in the perception of people in Greece to be accepted regardless of race.
I’m not a big basketball fan, so I have never heard of this story before and I’m glad you shared it. It must have been difficult for him as a child to be surrounded by all this negativity, for no good reason. It’s good that rode above this in order to follow a dream that makes him happy.
I feel like this systemic injustice was an amazing read. I love how you told the story of Giannis and how he was treated poorly throughout his life until he started becoming recognized for being good at basketball. It was interesting reading your research about what people from various countries had to say about him claiming to be Greek and not being white. Finally it was sad but interesting to hear the racism Giannis received and how he became a world renowned basketball and now people love him.