Footballer Troy Deeney said teachers are reluctant to speak to students about racism for fear of being demonized.
The Birmingham City captain has appealed to the government to make black, Asian and ethnic minority history classes compulsory across the school curriculum.
He said teachers are unwilling to discuss the issue, but it shouldn’t just be left to parents.
His petition has 60,000 signatures.
It was launched in April when Mr Deeney revealed the results of a YouGov poll he had commissioned, which showed that a majority of UK teachers who took part in the study believe the school system harbors a racial bias while only 12% feel empowered to teach a variety of subjects.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Monday, he said teachers wanted to talk about racism and feared repercussions.
“We live in a world, as you know, where you can get canceled and kicked out if you say the wrong thing,” he said.
Teachers could become “demonized,” he added, because the subject is “so divisive and you can’t really have an opinion and you can’t go wrong.”
He said that depictions of black people in his youth often focused on slavery and that the curriculum had not kept up with the times to empower children.
“When we’re at school and we’re maybe one or two of the black kids … and you’re watching Roots, and everyone in that class turns and looks at you, like, ‘Is that you? Uncle, is that your father?’
“Like you’re expected to understand that, and it’s really hard to understand if you’ve never been in this situation, but … you’re being taught that’s all you can become.”
“That’s the best you can see. Unless you make music because we teach you about Bob Marley, unless you play football because we show you about Ian Wright, unless you do athletics because we show you about Linford Christie – otherwise you don’t see anything that deals with empowerment.
“You don’t see anything about young black women in science, for example. I have two daughters and we don’t see anything about women in that period.”
- Black history classes to be made compulsory in Welsh schools
- The lack of a diverse curriculum “handicaps BAME students,” the university studies notes
- The teacher tries to bring “black joy” into the classroom
During his time at Watford, Mr Deeney was involved in organizing Premier League players who took their knees for the first time in the summer of 2020 in support of racial equality and the Black Lives Matter campaign.
The 33-year-old’s comments in an open letter to the government in April prompted a prompt response from Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who suggested they meet to discuss further.
The meeting that followed was filmed by Channel 4 and will be featured in a documentary later on Monday night entitled Troy Deeney – Where’s My Story? aired.
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