Never too young to learn about racism
WE were having dinner one evening when my grandson, Iskandar, told us about Rosa Parks, the black American woman who would not give up her seat for a white man, which in 1950s America was a violation of racial segregation laws.
That, added Iskandar, was followed by a boycott of the bus company led by the then young Martin Luther King Jr.
The consensus around the dinner table was one that reflected disbelief.
Iskandar is only 6, and we wondered whether he and his peers were too young to handle the subject of racism.
If memory serves me right, I only learnt about Martin Luther King Jr in secondary school. As for Parks, I had to resort to Google.
But what happened last week when racism reared its ugly head, in the aftermath of England’s defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final, made me realise that they are never too young to learn about a disease that is increasingly rampant now.
It is just manifesting in another medium, lurking in the pages of social media.
In the aftermath of the defeat, unimaginable words were thrown at three non-white players: Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who missed their penalty kicks after extra time.
Had they succeeded and brought an end to England’s 55year major tournament drought, they would have been hailed as stars — as one of them. But now, according to the slurs and insults, they are just immigrants.
There’s no way to shield our young ones from the impact of the slurs directed at their football idols, especially when the mural of Rashford in Withington was defaced with graffiti.
This is the idol of schoolchildren, who embarked on a school meals campaign to end child food poverty, to ensure that they had meals during school holidays.
This is the Manchester United and England striker who knew what it was like to be poor and hungry.
He organised boxes of essentials for the homeless and was among Premier League footballers who donated a total of £4 million to help the coronavirus efforts.
More importantly, Rashford gives them hope that one day they could be like him.
While artist (Dmitri) Akse waited to paint over the graffiti, the community of Withington, Rashford’s hometown, came out to cover the defaced mural with messages of love and support.
Hundreds of people came out to see Akse repair the mural, and many took the knee, as observed by the international media who converged on the building at the end of a row of shops on Moorfield Street off Copson Street in southern Manchester.
I made my way from London to Manchester to see the wall and was moved to see schoolchildren, in their uniforms, writing messages of love for their idol.
They wrote on Post-It notes, sticky notes and hung flags and pictures.
Ehsan Amri, 11, a budding footballer who was once with the Manchester City Academy, came with his father and brought a piece of poetry he had written to post on the wall. He was there, he said, to stand against racism and support one of the lions who carries the nation on his back.
“You are one of us, Marcus. Together we stand. You are a Mancunian, black or white, we’ll join together, hand in hand,” wrote Ehsan.
Ehsan may not have received any racist attacks, but he is aware that it happens on and off the football pitch where he trains.
It is not something that will hold him back.
Although no arrest has been made over the vandalism of the mural, a few people who posted insulting and racist remarks against the three players had been hauled up by the police.
One is a children’s football coach who tweeted a racist post targeting Rashford.
Even Ehsan, or Iskandar, who also sent his message to be posted on the wall, knew that excuses of accounts being hacked cannot hold water.
Although there is much talk about tackling racism online and in the real world, our children will have to learn to handle it. It’s never too young to be prepared.
Like Rashford, they will need to learn to never apologise for who they are and where they come from.