{"id":10256,"date":"2016-10-19T14:59:48","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T13:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10256"},"modified":"2016-10-24T16:44:43","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T15:44:43","slug":"send-red-card-message-to-racists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10256","title":{"rendered":"Send red card message to racists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Football is among the most powerful cultural forces in the UK, and so has the potential to change society in ways we might not even begin to imagine.<\/p>\n

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Show Racism the Red Card, an educational charity which Unite has long supported, has embraced football as vehicle for change in order to combat what Unite general secretary Len McCluskey called \u00e2\u20ac\u015bone of the greatest evils of our time\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d racism.<\/p>\n

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The Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) campaign was formed in 1996 to use footballing role models to enlist young people in anti-racism drives.\u00c2\u00a0 Previous stars on the SRtRC team sheet include Thierry Henry, Ryan Giggs and Samuel Eto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122o.<\/p>\n

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The charity goes out into communities, classrooms and football clubs and educates roughly 50,000 schoolchildren each year in England, Wales and Scotland about racism.<\/p>\n

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Now, in addition to enlisting the support of professional footballers, it reaches out to musicians, comedians and writers, to act as role models for the kids. It also works with trade unions, including Unite, to combat racism in the workplace.<\/p>\n

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The charity has expanded its work over the years and now also focuses on fighting anti-immigration sentiment, Islamophobia and most recently, homophobia.<\/p>\n

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Show Racism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s UK government funding was cut in March, and now the charity, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is fighting to keep on doing the work it has done so well for so long.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The charity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Wear Red Day, held on October 21, is a fundraising event that SRtRC hopes will bring publicity to their anti-racism work, which chief executive Ged Grebby said is needed now more than every before.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere was a huge rise in hate crime just after the EU referendum,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAlthough we as an organisation saw it come well before then, it was that vote that brought it all to the fore.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBased on what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re constantly fed in the media, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising that young people blame immigrants for so many problems,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Grebby added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to try to explain that immigration is a positive thing; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefited our country. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a huge plus not just economically but socially and culturally.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Grebby notes that for only five pounds a day, the charity is able to educate one young person for an entire day.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a full day with an education worker and an ex professional footballer,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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The Wear Red Day campaign was launched in September at a special event at Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headquarters in London, which was attended by football greats such as Chris Kamara, Paul Elliot CBE and Rachel Yankey.<\/p>\n

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Paul Elliot, a former Chelsea player who was the iconic team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first black captain explained why he thought Show Racism the Red Card\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work was so important.<\/p>\n

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‘Amazing power’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFootball in terms of education is a global sport,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got an amazing power. So when you align football with education, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more powerful. The way that Show Racism does it, education and football, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the mix that works. Both football and education are a reflection of society and so using it as a tool to combat racism is incredibly effective.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Elliot noted that even though racism was so much more blatant when he played decades ago, it still very much exists to this day.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen I was playing football, you had discrimination by virtue of your color,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhereas now, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so many other versions of discrimination that have emerged. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia. Society has evolved and so the challenges have evolved. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why Show Racism is fantastic \u00e2\u20ac\u201d because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve evolved to meet the challenges of the 21st century.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Chris Kamara, an ex-football player and manager who now works as a presenter and football analyst for Sky Sports, told UNITElive that although racism isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a problem that will \u00e2\u20ac\u015bever be cured altogether\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, with football and the work of organisations like SRtRC, \u00e2\u20ac\u015byou can improve it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Kamara noted that when he was younger, it was very strange to see black or Asian people going to football matches but now \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so cosmopolitan\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFootballers are now accepted for their ability and not their appearance and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why football is a good transmitter to send out the anti-racism message,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argued.<\/p>\n

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Arsenal and England player Rachel Yankey, who is the most capped player ever to play for England, agreed with both Kamara and Elliot that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098beautiful game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has such a powerful influence on people from all walks of life.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a powerful sport that people not only play but also support, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an effective way for role models in football to show that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not okay to make anyone feel unhappy because their race,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a powerful message that young people will listen to.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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She urged everyone to get involved in Wear Read Day on Friday (October 21).<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supporting a good cause,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Yankey said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt some point you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to know someone in your life of a different culture or ethnicity so even if you aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a minority you know someone who is \u00e2\u20ac\u201d racism is an issue that touches all of us.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite general secretary Len McCluskey spoke at the launch of Wear Read Day and hailed the work that Show Racism does.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe truth of the matter is that until such times as we get rid of racism in our communities, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still have it in football,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut to use it in the way that Show Racism does, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s magical to see them debating the issues and challenging the issues \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a wonderful organisation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McCluskey explained why Unite is such a stronger supporter of the organisation and why trade unions should be at the forefront of fighting racism.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA central theme of everything we do as a union is about equality and fighting for equality,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat Show Racism the Red Card does is working\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d young kids are challenging their own parents about racism and some of our members are reporting back to their shop stewards saying that they made an impression on us. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing a fantastic job. Racism is one of the greatest evils \u00e2\u20ac\u201d if not the greatest evil \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in our society and we have to fight it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pictured are commentator Chris Kamara, Len McCluskey and PFA equalities officer Terry Angus. Photo by Mark Thomas<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about Wear Red Day, and how you can get involved, here.\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Football is among the most powerful cultural forces in the UK, and so has the potential to change society in ways we might not even begin to imagine.   Show Racism the Red Card, an educational charity which Unite has long supported, has embraced football as vehicle for change in order to combat what Unite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[242,395],"wps_subtitle":"Wear red this Friday and say no to racism","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10256"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10291,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256\/revisions\/10291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}