ISLAMABAD, (APP): After the British-Pakistani cricketer Azeem Rafiq recently spoke up against the “institutional racism” in the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, one of the top clubs in the UK, people are speaking up in the country against the bigotry they had been facing in the society.
Social media trends, video campaigns, and public speeches are being made against race-based discrimination with the active participation of non-governmental organizations to call out the evil.
Azeem Rafiq, former England U-19 captain, recalling the “humiliating treatment” he had to face at the club, said he had to face numerous slurs like “You will sit over there near the toilets”, “Elephant-washers”, the use of phrase “Black dogs” for black team members and the word “Paki” constantly used which seemed to be an acceptance in the institution.
Rafiq had also narrated the frightening experience of being forced to drink alcohol at the age of 15 as a club player in Yorkshire wherein red wine was poured down his throat.
The Yorkshire club admitted to several of the allegations. The Club chairman Roger Hutton later resigned and apologized to Rafiq. The club has been banned from hosting international matches.
Rafiq proved to be a whistleblower, prompting other people to raise their voices against the bigotry.
The instance has once again highlighted the racist episodes that those of South Asian descent face in Britain, where they make up 5 percent of the 67.1 million population. The number of reported hate crime offenses in the country increased by 123 percent between 2013 and 2018, South China Morning Post reported.
According to data from Britain’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities published this year, 19 percent of the 1.17 million people who identify as being of Pakistani descent said they had been subjected to racist or prejudiced insults on social media.
Kayas Irshad, a British-Pakistani actor, and filmmaker based in London said, “I was subjected to racism because of the color of my skin. It left a scar forever,” Irshad told This Week In Asia. “Why do we, the victims of racism, have to give in while it should be the racists who need to be dealt with?”
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