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Shaista Aziz 💙

4 Jul, 10 tweets, 4 min read

Three Hijabis walk into a bar to watch the Three Lions thrash Ukraine. What an incredible evening and an absolutely brilliant win by a magnificent England team! Well done, lads! A thread on the importance of an anti-racist, inclusive #England ⚽️ team & why #RepresentationMatters

When I was growing up many, many people and communities of colour would avoid going out when an England match was on due to knowing we weren’t safe and would absolutely be at risk of verbal and physical racism dished out by so called England fans. Sadly this risk still exists.

Even now communities of colour feel this way. Speak to any working class taxi drivers of colour and they will tell you about the racism and abuse many experience after a match inc physical violence.Same goes for many supporters of colour attending England matches, home & abroad.

I’ve attended England matches at Wembley, I’ve felt extremely tense & anxious - not just because of what’s happening on the pitch but what was happening off it too with racist, homophobic chants by England ‘fans’ & racist booing of England players by so called ‘fans’ around me.

None of this deterred me from attending a match because as anyone who knows me can vouch for, I’m a stubborn git when I need to be and I absolutely refuse to let bigotry define my life or reduce and minimise my life. I never have and I never will.

In 2019, I had the immense honour of taking my nieces to Wembley for their first ever football match. We went to watch the England Lionesses take on Germany. The girls invited two of their friends, we were a tribe of inter-generational daughters of immigrants.

The girls loved it and felt safe and to be there. This made me happy! This is one more reason why this England team is changing so many things for so many people. By refusing to give in to toxic, vile racist push back by many in government and elsewhere to them taking the knee

to the way this team conducts themselves on and off the pitch - they’re creating a team that is playing for ALL of us. Their vision is an inclusive vision and this matters more than EVER and it’s why I feel proud of this team and why they’re so cherished and loved by many of us.

I have the immense honour of being part of the FA’s Refugees and Asylum Seekers Football Network. I get to work with people opening up space to bring people and communities together through the beautiful game. Powerful and transformative work is being done across the country.

The beautiful game is one of the most powerful vehicles in the world to do this and we need it more than EVER. Thank you Gareth Southgate and England, you absolute legends! Bring on Denmark….Let’s do this!
#ItsComingHome #Eng #RepresentationMatters #ThisIsEngland #AntiRacism

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Shaista Aziz 💙

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3. Those of us who are anti-racists or striving to be anti-racists need to be wiser to these tactics. We also need to be wiser to those seeking to co-opt our voices and our work on every level including those who purport to be with us and for us.

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30 May 20

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