Arrests in U.S. ‘subhuman slavery’ case
Editor’s note: For more information on this story, check out CNN affiliates WKYC, WOIO and WJW.
(CNN) — A mentally disabled woman and her daughter were held in an Ohio apartment crowded with people and animals for more than a year, forced to perform manual labor and threatened with dogs and snakes to keep them compliant, authorities said Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said the people accused of holding the pair in Ashland, about 60 miles south of Cleveland, collected the woman’s government benefits and beat her in order to get painkillers for themselves. They kept her in a room with a free-ranging iguana and ordered her to feed the reptile fruits and vegetables her daughter was denied, according to court papers. Sometimes their captors’ pit bulls got table food while they had to eat from cans, according to an arrest affidavit quoting witnesses.
“The living conditions were simply subhuman,” said Steven Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
“(We’re) talking about people who were locked in rooms, forced to work all the time, people who were threatened and beaten and injured, people who were exploited, people who had their money and benefits stolen, sort of used as pawns to get drugs,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “And the worst part of all this is, you know, they tried to rob the victims of their basic human dignity. So almost everything they did was to prey on them, prey on their vulnerabilities and exploit them.”
The mother and daughter were sometimes forced to eat dog food, according to a law enforcement source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.
They were also frequently denied access to the bathroom, FBI Special Agent Eric Smith told reporters.
Suspect’s mother: None of this happened
Feds charge 3 in Ohio captivity case
“They were physically punished for toiletry accidents,” he said, “and they were threatened not only with weapons but also with vicious animals, to include pit bulls and pythons.”
Family and attorney deny accusations
Three people — 26-year-old Jordie Callahan, 31-year-old Jessica Hunt and 33-year-old Daniel Brown — were arrested and charged with forced labor. Callahan is facing an additional count of witness tampering, and another arrest could come soon, the U.S. attorney’s office in Cleveland said.
Callahan’s mother, Becky, told CNN’s Piers Morgan that the accusations are false, and that the alleged victim was allowed to leave the apartment whenever she wanted.
“There are so many lies going on,” she said, accusing investigators of trumping up the case to draw attention to the small city of Ashland.
“She was giving them a couple hundred dollars a month for staying there. She was getting her own food. She wasn’t being starved,” Callahan’s mother said.
Her son, she said, is devastated by the accusations.
“He’s devastated that all of this is being said about them. They have some pit bulls and snakes, so they are making them out to be evil because they have that,” she said. “He loves reptiles. He always has since he was a kid.”
An attorney for Callahan told CNN affiliate WOIO that the allegations are ludicrous.
“She had opportunities to leave. She left several times and came back. So this was a mutual arrangement for her,” Attorney Andy Hyde told WOIO. “I don’t like that the federal prosecutors held a press conference to pat themselves on the back.”
Attorneys representing Hunt and Brown could not be immediately reached by CNN for comment.
Prosecutor: ‘They treated her worse than they treated the animals’
But a criminal complaint filed this week alleges that the mother and her daughter were padlocked inside the bedroom they shared.
“These individuals in this case preyed upon a human being’s disability and her desire to protect her child, the most fundamental of human traits,” Dettelbach said. The suspects “used that to force her into servitude, to work like an animal, and indeed, as the complaint alleges, they treated her worse than they treated the animals that were in that house.”
Hunt and Callahan are a couple but are not married, FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said. Brown was a friend of theirs, she said.
Before they were allegedly forced into servitude for two years, the victims knew their alleged captors, the law enforcement source said.
The woman was identified in court papers only as “S.E.” Investigators stated Callahan and Hunt persuaded her to move into the apartment they shared with Hunt’s four sons and “numerous” animals, knowing she “suffered from a cognitive disability and received monthly public assistance payments.”
That was in May 2011. Her plight came to the attention of authorities in October 2012, when she was arrested for trying to steal a candy bar from a store. Then she was arrested on a state child-welfare charge as part of the case, Ashland Police Chief David Marcelli said.
“The officers that took that complaint detected that there was other issues aside from the shoplifting,” Marcelli said. He said officers had had “numerous involvements” with the people involved, “and in the course of interviewing her, they discovered the rest of these facts slowly.”
According to prosecutors, Callahan showed police a mobile-phone video of S.E. beating her child. S.E. told police that she had been told to do so by Callahan and Hunt and that Callahan threatened to show police the video if she “messed up” or went to authorities.
S.E. was released from jail in February after being sentenced to time served on the abuse charge, and her daughter is now in foster care, said Michael Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.
Once the full picture emerged, Ashland police called in the FBI, “and shortly after, the suspects were indicted,” Marcelli said.
‘All of us…need to work on being better neighbors’
Callahan and Hunt kept tabs on the woman and child with a baby monitor, with Hunt taking the woman’s government benefit cards, authorities said.
“Callahan and Hunt forced S.E. to clean the house, do laundry, walk to the store to do their shopping and care for their numerous pit bulls and reptiles,” the prosecution statement said. Her child was kept in the apartment when she was sent to the store, they said.
Tuesday’s announcement comes more than a month after the rescue of three women from a Cleveland home where police said a man had held them captive for about a decade.
Authorities believe there is no connection between the Ashland investigation and that case, the law enforcement source said.
Dettelbach, the federal prosecutor, said Tuesday’s arrests are part of a broader push to crack down on what he called “modern-day slavery.”
“We need your help in these efforts. Law enforcement cannot do it alone. All of us in the northern district of Ohio need to work on being better neighbors,” he said. “We need to ask questions, hard questions, when we see something that doesn’t look right. We need to not be afraid to pick up the phone and to call law enforcement. We need to not be afraid to ask those simple questions — is everything OK? Is there some way I can help you? As Ohioans and as Americans, that is who we are, and it is our duty. “
CNN’s Carol Cratty and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.
Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/us/ohio-captive-woman/index.html?eref=edition
Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.
Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.
Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.
Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.
Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.
The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.
Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.
Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.
Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.
Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.
Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.
Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento’s life was forever changed after the 1950 World Cup. With Brazil needing just a draw against Uruguay in its final game to lift the trophy for the first time, the team lost 2-1 and he was blamed for the second goal. The goalkeeper’s perceived mistake haunted him. Twenty years later he overheard a woman in a supermarket say to her son, “There is the man who made Brazil cry.”
The Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue for the 1950 final, with 200,000 spectators packed into the purpose-built arena. The stadium has been redeveloped and a crowd of 78,000 people will watch the final of 2014 World Cup at the iconic ground.
All eyes will be on Neymar during both June’s Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup. The attacker, who recently signed for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth in excess of $80 million, is Brazil’s star player and must perform to his best if “La Selecao” are to satisfy an expectant public.
The Brazil team of 1970, which beat Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in Mexico, is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Pele, a three-time World Cup winner seen here leaping on his teammates, says Brazil must recover from the failure of 63 years ago.
Luiz Felipe Scolari was the coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup, in Japan and South Korea in 2002. The veteran has been reappointed in a bid to inject life into an ailing Brazil team. His results have so far left much to be desired: two wins, one defeat and four draws since November 2012.
England was Brazil’s first opponent at a refurbished Maracana earlier this month. A half-volley from midfielder Paulinho, pictured, rescued a 2-2 draw for the 2014 World Cup host.
Brazil’s most recent match, the last before the Confederations Cup starts, ended in a comfortable 3-0 defeat of France. A penalty from Lucas Moura, right, completed the scoring.
Racism has long been a stain on football but a resurgence of incidents in recent years has prompted soccer’s authorities to launch a renewed bid to rid the game of discrimination for good. Here a Fenerbahce fan holds a banana towards Galatasaray’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba during a Turkish league match in May 2013.
CNN’s Pedro Pinto stands on the spot where Boateng decided he’d had enough. He told the World Sport Presents Racism in Football documentary: “I decided to walk off the pitch because I said to myself, in this kind of environment, in this situation, I don’t want to play football anymore.”
Balotelli has had to deal with racism throughout his career. As far back as 2009, when he played for Inter, he was racially abused by opposing Juventus fans. Here, Inter’s fans hold up banners in support of the striker.
Balotelli told Pedro Pinto he was prepared to walk off if he receives more racial abuse: “After what happened to me in (the Roma) game, I felt a little bit alone when I was home. I always said that if that happened in the stadium, like if nobody said anything, I don’t care. But this time I think I changed my mind a little bit, and if it is going to happen one more time, I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.”
Boateng’s walk-off prompted the game’s governing body to act and FIFA president Sepp Blatter invited the midfielder to sit on a task force dedicated to tackling racism in football. A raft of reforms have now been passed that could see teams relegated or expelled from competitions.
The head of FIFA’s racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, told CNN the new measures could be “a defining moment in the fight against racism and discrimination.” He labeled the recent abuse of Balotelli and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba as “ignorant” and “unbelievable.”
One of the most high-profile incidents in England saw Liverpool striker Luis Suarez banned for eight-matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011. Prior to the teams’ return fixture the following February, Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand. Suarez subsequently apologized.
The Serbian Football Association was hit with an $84,000 fine after a brawl between their under-21 team and England’s in the city of Krusevac in October 2012. England player Danny Rose (far right) said he had been subjected to monkey chants throughout the game. The Serbian FA insisted their fine was for the altercation.
Serbian fans are renowned for creating an intimidating atmosphere, as CNN discovered at the Belgrade derby in May. Despite previous incidents, there was no hint of racism in the match, though the Serbian Football Association’s technical director Savo Milosevic did reveal they have no program in place to tackle racism.
Various initiatives across Europe’s leagues help to try and combat racism and offer opportunities to those communities that are under represented at the top of the game. The Asian Stars event, recently held at Chelsea’s training ground, aims to encourage participation among aspiring Asian players at all levels of football.
Germany captain Lewis Holtby wears a specially made training shirt with the Israeli flag and the words “Feeling at home” embroidered on the front to thank the host fans for making the team welcome at the European Under-21 Championship.
Holtby and teammate Toni Jantschke lay a wreath during the visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum before March’s friendly game against Israel.
Germany striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga told CNN that his visit to the museum in Jerusalem was “extremely moving.”
The players take a moment to pause and reflect while surrounded by photos of those who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Head coach Rainer Adrion was particularly moved by his visit, taking his time to walk around the exhibits.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach (center), vice-president Rolf Hocke (right) and the German ambassador in Israel, Andreas Michaelis, lay a wreath during last week’s visit of the German delegation at Yad Vashem.
Lasogga signs autographs for local children at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village in Netanya.
Striker Peniel Mlapa hands out small German mascots to some of the children at the Youth Village. 
Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.
Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.
Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.
Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.
Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.
The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.
Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.
Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.
Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.
Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.
Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.
Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento’s life was forever changed after the 1950 World Cup. With Brazil needing just a draw against Uruguay in its final game to lift the trophy for the first time, the team lost 2-1 and he was blamed for the second goal. The goalkeeper’s perceived mistake haunted him. Twenty years later he overheard a woman in a supermarket say to her son, “There is the man who made Brazil cry.”
The Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue for the 1950 final, with 200,000 spectators packed into the purpose-built arena. The stadium has been redeveloped and a crowd of 78,000 people will watch the final of 2014 World Cup at the iconic ground.
All eyes will be on Neymar during both June’s Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup. The attacker, who recently signed for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth in excess of $80 million, is Brazil’s star player and must perform to his best if “La Selecao” are to satisfy an expectant public.
The Brazil team of 1970, which beat Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in Mexico, is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Pele, a three-time World Cup winner seen here leaping on his teammates, says Brazil must recover from the failure of 63 years ago.
Luiz Felipe Scolari was the coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup, in Japan and South Korea in 2002. The veteran has been reappointed in a bid to inject life into an ailing Brazil team. His results have so far left much to be desired: two wins, one defeat and four draws since November 2012.
England was Brazil’s first opponent at a refurbished Maracana earlier this month. A half-volley from midfielder Paulinho, pictured, rescued a 2-2 draw for the 2014 World Cup host.
Brazil’s most recent match, the last before the Confederations Cup starts, ended in a comfortable 3-0 defeat of France. A penalty from Lucas Moura, right, completed the scoring.
Racism has long been a stain on football but a resurgence of incidents in recent years has prompted soccer’s authorities to launch a renewed bid to rid the game of discrimination for good. Here a Fenerbahce fan holds a banana towards Galatasaray’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba during a Turkish league match in May 2013.
CNN’s Pedro Pinto stands on the spot where Boateng decided he’d had enough. He told the World Sport Presents Racism in Football documentary: “I decided to walk off the pitch because I said to myself, in this kind of environment, in this situation, I don’t want to play football anymore.”
Balotelli has had to deal with racism throughout his career. As far back as 2009, when he played for Inter, he was racially abused by opposing Juventus fans. Here, Inter’s fans hold up banners in support of the striker.
Balotelli told Pedro Pinto he was prepared to walk off if he receives more racial abuse: “After what happened to me in (the Roma) game, I felt a little bit alone when I was home. I always said that if that happened in the stadium, like if nobody said anything, I don’t care. But this time I think I changed my mind a little bit, and if it is going to happen one more time, I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.”
Boateng’s walk-off prompted the game’s governing body to act and FIFA president Sepp Blatter invited the midfielder to sit on a task force dedicated to tackling racism in football. A raft of reforms have now been passed that could see teams relegated or expelled from competitions.
The head of FIFA’s racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, told CNN the new measures could be “a defining moment in the fight against racism and discrimination.” He labeled the recent abuse of Balotelli and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba as “ignorant” and “unbelievable.”
One of the most high-profile incidents in England saw Liverpool striker Luis Suarez banned for eight-matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011. Prior to the teams’ return fixture the following February, Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand. Suarez subsequently apologized.
The Serbian Football Association was hit with an $84,000 fine after a brawl between their under-21 team and England’s in the city of Krusevac in October 2012. England player Danny Rose (far right) said he had been subjected to monkey chants throughout the game. The Serbian FA insisted their fine was for the altercation.
Serbian fans are renowned for creating an intimidating atmosphere, as CNN discovered at the Belgrade derby in May. Despite previous incidents, there was no hint of racism in the match, though the Serbian Football Association’s technical director Savo Milosevic did reveal they have no program in place to tackle racism.
Various initiatives across Europe’s leagues help to try and combat racism and offer opportunities to those communities that are under represented at the top of the game. The Asian Stars event, recently held at Chelsea’s training ground, aims to encourage participation among aspiring Asian players at all levels of football.
Germany captain Lewis Holtby wears a specially made training shirt with the Israeli flag and the words “Feeling at home” embroidered on the front to thank the host fans for making the team welcome at the European Under-21 Championship.
Holtby and teammate Toni Jantschke lay a wreath during the visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum before March’s friendly game against Israel.
Germany striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga told CNN that his visit to the museum in Jerusalem was “extremely moving.”
The players take a moment to pause and reflect while surrounded by photos of those who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Head coach Rainer Adrion was particularly moved by his visit, taking his time to walk around the exhibits.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach (center), vice-president Rolf Hocke (right) and the German ambassador in Israel, Andreas Michaelis, lay a wreath during last week’s visit of the German delegation at Yad Vashem.
Lasogga signs autographs for local children at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village in Netanya.
Striker Peniel Mlapa hands out small German mascots to some of the children at the Youth Village. 
Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.
Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.
Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.
Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.
Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.
The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.
Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.
Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.
Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.
Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.
Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.
Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento’s life was forever changed after the 1950 World Cup. With Brazil needing just a draw against Uruguay in its final game to lift the trophy for the first time, the team lost 2-1 and he was blamed for the second goal. The goalkeeper’s perceived mistake haunted him. Twenty years later he overheard a woman in a supermarket say to her son, “There is the man who made Brazil cry.”
The Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue for the 1950 final, with 200,000 spectators packed into the purpose-built arena. The stadium has been redeveloped and a crowd of 78,000 people will watch the final of 2014 World Cup at the iconic ground.
All eyes will be on Neymar during both June’s Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup. The attacker, who recently signed for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth in excess of $80 million, is Brazil’s star player and must perform to his best if “La Selecao” are to satisfy an expectant public.
The Brazil team of 1970, which beat Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in Mexico, is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Pele, a three-time World Cup winner seen here leaping on his teammates, says Brazil must recover from the failure of 63 years ago.
Luiz Felipe Scolari was the coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup, in Japan and South Korea in 2002. The veteran has been reappointed in a bid to inject life into an ailing Brazil team. His results have so far left much to be desired: two wins, one defeat and four draws since November 2012.
England was Brazil’s first opponent at a refurbished Maracana earlier this month. A half-volley from midfielder Paulinho, pictured, rescued a 2-2 draw for the 2014 World Cup host.
Brazil’s most recent match, the last before the Confederations Cup starts, ended in a comfortable 3-0 defeat of France. A penalty from Lucas Moura, right, completed the scoring.
Racism has long been a stain on football but a resurgence of incidents in recent years has prompted soccer’s authorities to launch a renewed bid to rid the game of discrimination for good. Here a Fenerbahce fan holds a banana towards Galatasaray’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba during a Turkish league match in May 2013.
CNN’s Pedro Pinto stands on the spot where Boateng decided he’d had enough. He told the World Sport Presents Racism in Football documentary: “I decided to walk off the pitch because I said to myself, in this kind of environment, in this situation, I don’t want to play football anymore.”
Balotelli has had to deal with racism throughout his career. As far back as 2009, when he played for Inter, he was racially abused by opposing Juventus fans. Here, Inter’s fans hold up banners in support of the striker.
Balotelli told Pedro Pinto he was prepared to walk off if he receives more racial abuse: “After what happened to me in (the Roma) game, I felt a little bit alone when I was home. I always said that if that happened in the stadium, like if nobody said anything, I don’t care. But this time I think I changed my mind a little bit, and if it is going to happen one more time, I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.”
Boateng’s walk-off prompted the game’s governing body to act and FIFA president Sepp Blatter invited the midfielder to sit on a task force dedicated to tackling racism in football. A raft of reforms have now been passed that could see teams relegated or expelled from competitions.
The head of FIFA’s racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, told CNN the new measures could be “a defining moment in the fight against racism and discrimination.” He labeled the recent abuse of Balotelli and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba as “ignorant” and “unbelievable.”
One of the most high-profile incidents in England saw Liverpool striker Luis Suarez banned for eight-matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011. Prior to the teams’ return fixture the following February, Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand. Suarez subsequently apologized.
The Serbian Football Association was hit with an $84,000 fine after a brawl between their under-21 team and England’s in the city of Krusevac in October 2012. England player Danny Rose (far right) said he had been subjected to monkey chants throughout the game. The Serbian FA insisted their fine was for the altercation.
Serbian fans are renowned for creating an intimidating atmosphere, as CNN discovered at the Belgrade derby in May. Despite previous incidents, there was no hint of racism in the match, though the Serbian Football Association’s technical director Savo Milosevic did reveal they have no program in place to tackle racism.
Various initiatives across Europe’s leagues help to try and combat racism and offer opportunities to those communities that are under represented at the top of the game. The Asian Stars event, recently held at Chelsea’s training ground, aims to encourage participation among aspiring Asian players at all levels of football.
Germany captain Lewis Holtby wears a specially made training shirt with the Israeli flag and the words “Feeling at home” embroidered on the front to thank the host fans for making the team welcome at the European Under-21 Championship.
Holtby and teammate Toni Jantschke lay a wreath during the visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum before March’s friendly game against Israel.
Germany striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga told CNN that his visit to the museum in Jerusalem was “extremely moving.”
The players take a moment to pause and reflect while surrounded by photos of those who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Head coach Rainer Adrion was particularly moved by his visit, taking his time to walk around the exhibits.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach (center), vice-president Rolf Hocke (right) and the German ambassador in Israel, Andreas Michaelis, lay a wreath during last week’s visit of the German delegation at Yad Vashem.
Lasogga signs autographs for local children at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village in Netanya.
Striker Peniel Mlapa hands out small German mascots to some of the children at the Youth Village. 
