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| Article by Allan Hepple from Cramlington |
The torrent of racism suffered by members of the England Team is nothing short of disgraceful. The support they received from mainly young people was remarkable and sadly at odds with messages from government. Despite Priti Patel, Home Secretary, saying it was “gesture politics”, their message in taking the knee in each game demonstrated their commitment to end racism and demand equality and should be applauded not vilified. The team after all is racially diverse much like the country
It is no surprise that young people have a different view challenging and rejecting the government’s toxic culture war.
Of course, this government are perpetrating the culture war to defect attention from their failures to govern fand the evidence is clear
Priti Patel’s - who as one commentator said is likely to switch off your life support to charge her mobile phone – from ‘gesture politics’, photo shoots of evicting asylum seekers to criminalising genuine asylum seekers, against international law, in her Nationality and Borders Bill and
Johnson’s description of those of African dissent as ‘piccaninies’ and ‘watermelon smiles and Muslim women as ‘letterboxes’
Not denouncing the minority of England fans booing their own players taking the knee
The UK has always been a welcoming country where difference has been accepted and tolerated. But the government as Tyrone Ming’s said ‘stokes’ the culture war giving license to racists to boo and send racist messages on social media to England players
Their focus should not be on a culture war but on the real problems facing this country: -
A fractured and underfunded NHS
Increasing child and pensioner poverty
The mess created by Brexit not least the disaster of the Northern Ireland protocol
Tackling unemployment and particularly youth unemployment
Supporting businesses and people still affected by Brexit
This is an agenda and priorities we can all support I’m sure.
