Show Racism The Red Card at The Emirates, home of Arsenal FC
On Tuesday 26th September Show Racism The Red Card were back in North London working in collaboration with Arsenal in The Community at their education centre, The Hub, delivering our academy training programme to the clubs 40 sixth form pupils.
The Southern team delivered two workshops. The first an anti racism session that defined discrimination, racism and the law. We worked with the students to identify everyday forms of racism, how micro aggressions manifest through apathy and minimisation, the importance of being upstanding, being actively anti -racist and how to challenge racism safely.
The second session involved understanding unconscious bias and how if affects our decision making and our worldview by identifying how our brain perceives information and how stereotypes influence bias. The students worked in groups to understand how our conscious and unconscious thinking develops, identifying the different types of bias that exist, examining intersectionality and privilege before ending the session on how we can all be critical thinkers.
Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Arsenal in the Community, Samir Singh spoke about the long standing collaboration, “It is always great to have workshop facilitators from SRtRC with us as we value their expertise. This time we gave the opportunity to our sixth form students to take part in the workshop which will make them better football coaches”
SRtRC Regional Manager for the south, Paul Hill added, “Arsenal’s commitment to fostering a deeper understanding of the power of language and the impact of unconscious thinking on our worldview is truly commendable. By working together, we are able to support their students in developing the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate the complexities of diversity and inclusion. Being a part of Arsenal’s initiatives is always a privilege, and I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Samir for his unwavering dedication.”
The young gunners were given the opportunity to ask, our esteemed panel that included Arsenal legend Perry Groves, Cllr Valerie Bossman-Quarshi, England Cricket legend Monty Panesar and Keah Forino-Joseph from The FA, questions about how to deal with racism, the challenges they have faced and lived experiences from people with power, thoughts on racism in football and society and there was time for a brief discussion on Arsenal’s title credentials!
Arsenal Legend, Perry Groves shared his experiences in media highlighting the importance of being an anti-racist, “The more work you do within education, the less it will be tolerated and the more people empowered to call racism out and to make it clear it isn’t acceptable”
Former England cricketer Monty Panesar added, “Now the narrative is changing and a lot of people are saying no, that’s not right. It can be difficult to understand different cultures but through education we can understand what it may feel like to be racially discriminated”
Councillor for Islington, Valerie Bossman-Quarshie reiterated the importance of wellbeing, “The more you are educated and equipped you are to call it out, the better it is for yourself and for your mental health”
Keah Forino-Joseph who is part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team at The FA gave the group guidance on challenging racism by standing on their lived experiences, “With the experience I have now, I feel much more confident to challenge and call racism out now.”
Jack Cunningham, Educator, SRTRC South explained how impactful the sessions, “I had an amazing time delivering with Show Racism the Red Card at Arsenal Football Club. It was wonderful to engage with such positive young people and spend time analysing our own biases. The best part of the day for me was the amazing Q&A with our expert panel. The conversation was absolutely brilliant and very beneficial for everyone involved!”
Many thanks to Samir and the team at Arsenal in the Community for hosting us and we look forward to returning to The Emirates in the new year.
