It’s been over three years since Richarlison moved to England from Brazil, and anyone who follows him on social media can see he never forgets about his country.
The Everton star is always tweeting in Portuguese, not only to makes his funny comments, but also to engage in several social issues.
This is why UOL has a column this week written by Andrei Kampff which is called ‘Richarlison, a Brazilian hero’, and it talks about how different he is from other footballers.
There are two recent episodes behind Richarlison being so praised in Brazil. The first one is because he blamed the government for the power outage in the state of Amapá, which has now lasted 12 days.
“As a Brazilian citizen, I ask the authorities to speak up, make a decision soon, the people are suffering, and they could pay more attention. May they look at the people there with affection, they are good citizens, they are wanting the best for themselves, for their children. Tax is expensive, paying for expensive food, and people are suffering. I hope they can take action soon.”
Then at the end of the last week, a black man was beaten to death by security staff from a supermarket. That happened one day before the Black Consciousness day in Brazil.
“It seems that we have no way out? Not even on the day of Black Consciousness,” he said.
“In fact, what conscience? They killed a beaten black man in front of the cameras. They beat and filmed. Violence and hatred, lost their modesty and shame.”
Following Richarlison’s latest actions, Andrei Kampff comes up full of praise for the Everton player. Here are some bits of his column.
“Before they come with the usual ‘athletes are paid to play and compete’, I will clarify. Yes, true. But when he understands his strength, he goes beyond a field, a court, a track. It helps to transform lives and realities. And few people understood this role as well as Richarlison, for me the biggest name in Brazilian sport in 2020, such a complicated year.
“The striker from Everton and the Brazilian national team is another one of those to show that we all have professional commitments, lawyers, workers, waiters, journalists and athletes, but we also have responsibility as citizens in building a better world. And when idols understand this, the strength of the example is enhanced.
“Because of its strength, sport is a catalyst for important social changes. So much so that it and its characters have already stopped wars and brought people together; the sport got people close. Richarlison helps to fight prejudice and in the fight for justice.”
