Rees speaks of sadness at racism aimed at England footballers

The mayor of Bristol has spoken of the “sadness at my lack of surprise” after Black players on the England football team received appalling racist abuse.

Marvin Rees says the episode marks a “learning moment if we choose to take it” and that it raises deeper questions that are “very real and very raw” for a diverse city like Bristol.

It comes after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed penalties in the shootout defeat by Italy in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley on Sunday night.

Speaking at a city council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Rees said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to the England football team for getting to the final of the European Championships.

“It was an inspiring performance and did so much good.

“Unfortunately I do also have to register my sadness not only at what happened but the sadness I felt at my lack of surprise at the reaction after the three black players missed the penalties and England lost.

“I knew it was coming.

“It is worth remembering this is a learning moment if we choose to take it. What we do not need is, in an effort to quieten the voice of overt racists, that we sweep this under the carpet like a ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, these are just the views of a few mindless, hateful individuals’.

“There is a deeper question to be asked here about to what extent are the things being said and done towards the three players and beyond actually tapped into something deeper in the country.

“There is no need for me to rehearse again the hostile environment, the WindrushsScandal, the comments of the Prime Minister in response to the players taking the knee, the response of Black Lives Matter and what has been talked about as a culture war being stoked up in the country.

“So there are some very deep questions that need to be asked and these are very real and very raw for a city like Bristol with all our diversity.”

In a blog published on Tuesday, Rees, Europe’s first black elected mayor, said that “belonging” was precarious for people of African and Asian heritage.

He wrote: “It can always be questioned. Sometimes the questions are overt and sometimes subtle.

“But we all know they are there. It makes my own belonging feel ‘qualified’.

“That doesn’t translate into a loss of patriotism amongst our communities. We can see that in the dedication the boys have put in to getting England to the final.

“But it can produce a sadness. It sends a message that there is an element of belonging in England that must be earned, maintained and then validated by people whose belonging is an unquestionable birthright.

“We have to ask honestly, as a nation, to what extent the backlash we are witnessing is the expression of a hateful culture held by a few mindless individuals, or to what extent its origins are to be found somewhere deeper in our national soul.”

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo copyright Sam Gibson Photography

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