Women’s first team striker Danielle Carter visited a school in Worthing to explain how education is key in the fight against racism and discrimination.
Danielle visited Davison CE High School in Worthing as part of Albion in the Community's work in the Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign.
AITC organised a workshop with around 30 girls at the school, aged between 11-14, who listened as the Albion striker discussed the issue of racism and discrimination in society and shared her own experiences.
“It’s always good to visit schools in this way,” Danielle said, “AITC gave a presentation first which then led on to my experiences with racism, both within football and society in general.
“The key message I tried to get across was that education is the key. Nobody is born a racist, so these sessions can go some way to helping make a change. If you educate one person, then they are able to go on and educate someone else – it has that knock-on effect.
“Given their background, I don’t think the girls have ever experienced racism personally, but they were really engaged and interacted well. They all seemed intelligent enough to know right from wrong, so hopefully they will now go on to become allies.
“As I told them, you don’t have to experience racism to fight it.”
Danielle sits on both the Professional Footballers Association Players’ Board and the Premier League Black Players Advisory Group, and while she feels we are heading in the right direction, there is still plenty of work ahead to eradicate racism from the game.
“I haven’t experienced racism personally in the women’s game but that’s not to say that it doesn’t exist,” she added. “I’ve played in a game for Arsenal where there has been racist chanting and, of course, there have been a number of social media issues which have been brought to light.
“Given its coverage, there are more issues in the men’s game but I’m encouraged to hear that the Premier League’s Action Plan is having an effect and that there are now serious repercussions for any perpetrators of hate.
“That doesn’t mean we can ease up in any way, and as long as we are needing to have these conversations, then it means we still have a problem.”
The former Arsenal and Reading forward has also encouraged her fellow professionals to follow her lead and use their platform in a positive way.
“It’s good, given my profile as a WSL footballer, to be able to go out to schools, into society, and try to make a difference, but it’s also important that it’s not just black or ethnic-minority players who are sending out the message.
“Allies are as important, maybe even more so, in the fight against racism and discrimination.
“I think [anti-racism] will always be an important message. I think education is key, so these sessions that we’re putting on are vital for making change.”
Rob Josephs, Schools Manager at AITC, thinks workshops like these can make a big impression on young people.
“Hearing stories directly from Danielle and having an honest conversation with her, it’s a great way to make a lasting impact on young people,” Rob said.
“The students all have massive respect for Danielle as a women’s football legend, and talking to her today has been a fantastic way of driving home that anti-racism message.”
Find out more here about how Albion in the Community tackles discrimination.