On Monday 10th March Show Racism the Red Card travelled down to Merseyside to collaborate with Everton in the Community for an incredibly impactful final event at Goodison Park!
Around 90 primary children from local schools were in attendance to take part in an interactive and thought-provoking day focused on developing understand around anti-racism and anti-hate crime. The workshops covered essential topics such as stereotypes, perception and discrimination, helping to deepen understanding of racism, whilst gaining the confidence to be supportive allies in their communities as they progress through life, resulting in a generation eager to create positive change throughout society.
The morning session also involved a creative task led by Everton in the Community, allowing the pupils to express what they had learned through creative anti-racism artwork, completed at an exceptional standard.
Following on from this, the afternoon began with the schools in attendance viewing the incredibly moving Show Racism the Red Card Educational Film, highlighting the history of racism and the ferocious impact it has had on society, historically as well as in present day.
The day reached its conclusion with an inspiring and star-studded Q&A panel giving the children a once in a lifetime opportunity to ask highly experienced role models about their experiences of racism and how to deal with racist incidents across different fields. The panel featured Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré, former Premier League Referee Chris Foy, General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress Paul Nowak and our very own Richard Offiong. They were later joined by Everton Women’s player Toni Payne.
Paul Nowak said of the day;
‘I had the privilege to join the SRtRC team at Goodison Park to see the incredible work they do first hand.
While the chance to meet Abdoulaye Doucoure was big draw for the kids (and me!), there was a really serious side to the day. I was surprised by how engaged the kids were in the panel discussion we had on challenging racism, with lots of thoughtful questions and participation.
It was clear the SRtRC team knew how to balance driving home the serious message of what racism is and how we challenge it, with ensuring the day was enjoyable for kids and teachers alike.
Big thanks to Paul Kearns, Richard Offiong and the rest of the SRtRC and Everton in the Community teams for facilitating a really memorable afternoon’.
This wrapped up an incredibly memorable day on Merseyside and a fitting farewell to Goodison Park. As an organisation we would like to thank all involved at Everton Football Club for their outstanding support, all the guests for their continuous allyship and finally all the schools in attendance as they showed unwavering amounts of passion towards growing an anti-racist and safer society for the next generation!