Show Racism the Red Card: The important reason people are wearing red today

Donate £1 and help educate young people about the impacts of racism

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Today, Show Racism the Red Card is encouraging people to wear red in order to help tackle racism in society.

The UK charity, which was established in 1996, predominantly delivers anti-racism education to young people in their schools and has so far coached 50,000 individuals all over Britain on the issue.

Show Racism the Red Card uses 19 October to help facilitate the delivery of its message by asking schools and businesses to wear something red and donate at least £1.

It costs just £5 for the charity to educate a young person about the impacts of racism in their school and, with more than 1,300 organisations expected to take part this year, it hopes to provide plenty of anti-racism education in the year ahead.

By wearing red today, people are not only showing their support to Show Racism the Red Card, but also visibly demonstrating their opposition to racism and showing solidarity with all those who have experienced it.

“In a global society, particular groups, communities and individuals have become targets for racism,” says James Knight, North East education team manager at Show Racism the Red Card.

“By participating, schools, businesses and individuals can overtly demonstrate that not only are they themselves committed to equality and treating people equally irrespective of their skin colour, nationality, religion or culture, but that they will challenge racism and discrimination as an upstander – sending a message to everyone that racism will not be tolerated or excused.”

While there has been significant progress in recent decades, racism is still an issue in the UK.

According to British Transport Police (BTP) figures, the number of hate crimes reported to police across the country’s network has doubled over the past five years.

Similarly, research carried out by Citizens UK and Nottingham University found that at least three in five Muslims had been the victim of a hate crime.

One of the largest studies ever conducted into hate crime, it also discovered that 62 per cent of young people experienced racism in schools and colleges with many specifically citing Islamaphobia as the motivation behind the offence.

In addition, Tell Mama, an organisation which measures islamaphobic incidents in Britain, recorded a 30 per cent rise in street incidents in 2017, taking the number of verified reports to 1,201.

Worryingly, it also found that more and more islamaphobic sentiment manifests in serious, offline incidents, rather than online abuse

This year marks the fourth annual Wear Red Day and so far the event has proved to be a success.

“We are predicting record support for this day of action on Friday, with a huge number of schools, businesses and individuals already committed to taking part,” says Knight.

“Across the UK a number of local landmarks will also be lit red as a show of solidarity including Alnwick Gardens, Foundation of Light, Sunderland Liver Building, Liverpool and Nottingham University Trent building.”

For more information visit the Show Racism the Red Card website.