The issue of racism in football has been a long standing one and recently Footballers have been subject to abuse on twitter. Paul Pogba took abuse after he missed a penalty on Monday night that would most likely have won the game for Manchester United. Being a United fan and also just being a normal human being I am disgusted by the abuse and can’t believe in 2019 this is still an issue. People need to unlearn these racist ways.
Since these issues have come up on twitter Kick it Out the campaign to kick racism out of football and twitter have decided to meet and discuss a way forward. The problem is that anyone can make fake twitter accounts and say whatever they want. So even someone who is possibly banned from twitter can create fake email accounts and fake twitter accounts to abuse people as they see fit.
A United player, new signing Harry Magiure, has come out to say that he is disgusted by the abuse and that perhaps Twitter should consider having users that only have identity credentials allowed to use the app. Essentially creating accountability so that people will think before they tweet whatever is in their heads. I think that Harry is on the right path in what he is saying however the implementation of that could pose significant problems. One is that there are already so many fake accounts and fake people on twitter that weeding them out could take a very long time.
I do believe something needs to be done to actively denounce this behavior though because on twitter it goes largely unchecked. They can ban anyone using racial slurs and it is one way to keep these people from abusing footballers. Long term plans should be education, the only way to stop racist behavior is to educate the youth and let them know that this is not an acceptable way to vent your frustration as a football fan. The better educated youths we have, specifically in race and racism, the better things will become.
The responsibility is on parents and teachers now to change the world one child at a time because that child will affect everyone they come into contact with. I hope that we can all educate children and also show them that we will not tolerate racist behavior. Show them that there is a better way to live our lives, that we are all equal and that although we are all different, there is nothing wrong with that. That no one is better than anyone else because of race or religion. We have a duty to affect change in those around us, especially the children. I only hope that reading this inspires you to do more and stop racism in its tracks to provide our children with a better world to live in.
