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Pupils at a County Durham Primary School were given the opportunity to quiz Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen alongside top footballers as part of a campaign to end racism in sport.
The County Durham and Darlington PCC travelled to the Beacon of Light community hub in Sunderland where youngsters from Easington Colliery Primary School were treated to an action-packed workshop courtesy of anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card.
The event saw pupils taking part in multi-sports sessions, classroom workshops and a Q&A panel with the PCC, campaign coordinator and former professional footballer Richard Offiong and Sunderland AFC footballer Aji Alese.
Show Racism the Red Card is one of the UK’s leading anti-racism charities, delivering school programmes across the country to give young people the knowledge, support and confidence needed to discuss and confront racism.
In the North East region alone,workshops have been delivered to thousands of young people across all levels of education in addition to professional development sessions and training for teachers and other professionals and a bespoke parents’ session to promote and encourage home-based discussions around racism.
Workshops teach young people how to be actively anti-racist and cover themes such as exploring identity, the history of racism and the impact it has on society and the role each individual plays as a global citizen.
PCC Joy Allen said: “Having provided funding to support this project I was delighted to attend the Beacon of Light for this fantastic workshop.
“Football has the power to unite communities, and it was great to see the pupils taking their roles and responsibilities as citizens seriously. I was also impressed by the intelligent and thoughtful questions asked which showed a high level of understanding of racism and how harmful and unacceptable attitudes and stereotypes divide and segregate communities.
“Whilst fun and engaging, the workshop delivered a serious message that hopefully resonated with the youngsters and will be applied to their everyday lives in the future. Today’s children are tomorrow’s adults and by helping them to become active bystanders, ready and confident to call out racist behaviour when they observe it, we can help our communities become the safe, tolerant and resilient places we all want to live.”
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