Edison Cavani and racism

Edison Cavani is being investigated for racism. The Manchester United striker thanked a friend on Twitter with the expression "Gracias Negrito".

Now, in most places in Latin America, including Cavani´s Uruguay, Negro is not an insult, but an endearing term. I have friends and family members that we call "El Negro", and that cultural context is a thing that is grossly missing in this accusation against Mr. Cavani, who can and should not be accused for racism for this.

All this is not to say that racism does not exist in Latin America: it certainly does, and too little is done to fight it. However, an expression as that used by Mr. Cavani is not racist (ask the friend he said it to), and must be understood in the cultural context in which he used the expression, which remains very common. The risk here is that the justified fight against racism is reduced to correcting petty cultural misunderstandings that have little or nothing to do with the real fight against the scourge of racism.

I hope that the FA will see this and not punish Edison Cavani.