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August 25, 2023
Leading UK anti-racism educational charity, Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC), has began its latest campaign in partnership with communications organization IMIX and non-profit Migrant Voice to celebrate migration across the country and challenge stereotypes. The campaign follows research conducted by the charity that shows 70 different nationalities are represented across 20 different clubs in the new Premier League season which kicked off on August 11.
SRtRC was established in 1996 through the help of Newcastle United goalkeeper Shaka Hislop who experienced racist abuse during that time. He believed that he could use his status and an effective education strategy to make a difference in the way people viewed migrants and challenge societal racismn. The charity empowers role models within communities, organizations and sports in order to dismantle racism in society.
To this day, SRtRC continues to utilize athletes’ platforms to help tackle racism. It delivers educational workshops to young people and adults in schools, workplaces and at stadium events. Across the UK, SRtRC provides educational sessions to more than 50,000 people each year. It also provides educational resources and films that help address a range of issues surrounding racism – modern and institutional.
“It’s time to remind ourselves why the English Premier League continues to be the most popular league in the world’s most popular sport. It’s because of the diversity of faces and talents on show every single match day,” explains Hislop in the campaign’s launch video.
Approximately 14.8% of the UK population weren’t born in England or Wales. Misinformation and misleading rhetoric spread about migrants have become even more prevalent in recent years. The term ‘illegal’ has become part of a common dialogue tied to the words ‘migrant’ and ‘immigrant’. According to data from The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, adult children of migrants who were born in the UK are much more likely to perceive discrimination; 18% of foreign-born respondents said that they had felt unsafe; and 11% said they had avoided certain places, because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, language or accent.
The new campaign, ‘Migration. Making Britain Great’, intends to challenge and address many of the myths surrounding migrants. Using education, facts and sports role models, it also celebrates the contributions made by those who have sought asylum and sanctuary in the UK. It uses learnings from the charity’s current education program, expertise in narrative change from IMIX and contributions from people with lived experiences through Migrant Voice.
“Migrants form part of our communities, they are the people we talk to on the bus, our colleagues, our friends, our favorite footballers. Each plays an important part in making up the fabric of this country and through this project, we will show the importance of that,” states Migrant Voice, the migrant-led national organization that works to build a strong community of migrant voices including asylum seekers and refugees across the UK.
“Sport knows no borders, no boundaries. You are judged on how well you play, not where you were born. Every week millions watch players from nearly 70 different nationalities play against each other. We cheer them on and we commiserate their losses. Nationality does not come into our thinking. We see the positive impact of sport on our lives, on our children’s lives, on a daily basis. That same impact should apply to all migrants, across this whole country. Together we can challenge the toxic narrative on immigration.”
Over the next few months, the campaign will bring together footballers and migrant stories to help people understand that immigration and diversity “make us all stronger, makes us and the country we call home, greater.”
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