76

BURNINGQUESTIONS

Am I allowed sing Baa BaaBlack Sheep? YES OF COURSE YOU CAN! It is absolutely fine

to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep, it is a harmless

nursery rhyme. The song is not racist in any way.

Donʼt always believe everything you hear! Lots of

silly rumours and stories have been written in the

newspapers saying that you are not allowed to do or

say certain things, like sing Baa Baa Black Sheep or

talk about Black Boards, Black Coffee or Black Bin

Bags but there have never been any bans or laws

about these things and none of them have anything

to do with racism.

Myths like this can be dangerous as they can make

people annoyed and frustrated at Black people or

people from other minority ethnic groups which is

unfair and can lead to more racism.

Is it racist to say ‘Chinky’?

YES DEFINITELY! Ch

inky is not even a rea

l

word and is very rac

ist.

It was invented by rac

ist people to make

Chinese people, or an

yone thought to be

Chinese, feel unwelco

me. It was also used t

o

mock their appearanc

e and language.

Throughout history in

Britain this word has b

een

used during attacks on

take-aways, restaura

nts

and on people. Becau

se of this, the word is

extremely hurtful and o

ffensive as it can mak

e

people feel frightened

and threatened.

The word is commonly

used in England as a

nickname for takeawa

ys; however there are

many other ways to de

scribe a take-away wh

ich

will not be hurtful to a

nybody. For example w

e

could say the Chinese

take away or use the

actual name of the res

taurant.

Also, ask yourself this

…Do the people who

use

the words Paki and Ch

inky say them when th

ey

are inside the shop or

takeaway? If not, why

not?

Is it racist to say ‘Paki’?YES DEFINITELY!

Paki is a racist word no matter how, when and why you

say it, even if you are using it to describe a local shop or

newsagent. The word Paki has been used as a weapon to hurt

people and to make them feel different, unwelcome and not

valued; it is very painful to those who it is targeted to.

Sometimes people use Paki or Chinky as nicknames and have

no intention of hurting or upsetting anybody. However if you had

experienced this word being shouted at you whilst someone

attacked you or spat in your face, would you want to hear it

being used? For many people this word stands for racism,

hatred and conflict, so for these reasons it should never be used.

We have heard the argument that Paki is just a short version of

Pakistani and is therefore acceptable, however many people

who are called Paki are not even from Pakistan! Even if the

word originally did just refer to a nationality, because of the way

the word has and is used, the meaning has changed and it has

become a damaging, hurtful and racist word.

If I was describing some

one

should I say black or col

oured?

BLACK. Using w

ords such as colo

ured is very old

fashioned and re

minds people of

a time when thin

gs

were extremely u

nequal in Britain b

etween black and

white people.

Sometimes people

seem frightened

to use the word b

lack

and think it might b

e rude or even rac

ist, but itʼs not, bla

ck

people prefer to b

e described as bla

ck not coloured, d

ark

or brown.

You may be thinki

ng; but hold on, yo

uʼre not actually

black, which is a g

ood point, but we

call white people

white and are they

white?!

Letʼs just keep it s

imple and use the

terms Black and

White, but rememb

er it is not very oft

en that you actua

lly

need to talk about

a personʼs skin co

lour and their

name is usually the

best thing to use!

Look

out for othe

r

Burning Que

stions

on Post-It N

otes

throughout t

he

magazine.

Can white people get racism?YES! Absolutely anybody can suffer from racism.We all have a SKIN COLOUR, NATIONALITY andCULTURE and some of us have a RELIGION. Thisleaves every single one of us vulnerable to receivingracism.

Donʼt forget that sometimes people are targets of racismbecause of their PERCEIVED not their ACTUAL beliefsor nationality, for example an Asian person being judgedas Muslim just because of their skin colour.It is important to mention that racism usually happens topeople in whatʼs called a MINORITY group (smaller, lessof them) from people in whatʼs called the MAJORITYgroup (bigger, more of them) so whilst racism canhappen to anybody, it is more likely to happen to peoplefrom minority ethnic groups in Britain, for example aGypsy or Traveller, a Muslim, a Black person or aPolish person.

What is racism?Racism is based

on a belief that some

groups of people are superior (w

orth

more) and others are inferior (wo

rth less).

People receive racism because of

four

things, their 1, Nationality (the coun

try that

they come from); 2, Skin Colour; 3

, Religion;

4, Culture (the way they live their lif

e).

People can be racist in many diffe

rent ways;

it usually starts with Prejudice (jud

ging

somebody before you have met th

em) and

can lead onto to name calling, jok

es,

rhymes, making fun of people, lea

ving

people out, bullying (including Cyb

er

bullying), discrimination (treating p

eople

differently and unfairly) vandalism,

physical

violence and, in extreme cases, mu

rder and

death.

REFUGEES

ANDASYLUM

SEEKERS

13

REFUGEES

ANDASYLUM

SEEKERS

Do we pay for foreign people

to be in this country?NO. There are many differen

t reasons why people

may come to Britain.

This is another myth that newspapers like to encourage us

to believe. Remember: donʼt believe everything you hear,

make sure you are as informed as possible and have the

facts, the proof and the evidence to back up any of your

opinions or beliefs.

What is an immigrant?A migrant who has chosen to stay in the country intowhich they have crossed and therefore takes up

permanent residence.

What is a migrant?

A person who moves from one countr

y to another.

What is a refugee?Someone whose asylum application has been successful.They have proved that if they returned to their country ofnationality or residence they would face violence andpersecution because of their race, religion, nationality,membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

What is an asylum seeker?Someone who is escaping harassment and persecution

in

his or her own country and has fled to another country and

lodged a claim for protection with the authorities. Itʼs not

easy to get asylum in England and many peopleʼs claims

are rejected. However everybody has the right to apply for

asylum and it has saved millions of lives.

Refugees and asylum seekers face manyprejudices in the UK and often receive racism.Even footballers such as former Newcastle Unitedand Finland international, Shefki Kuqi, and formerSunderland captain, Lorik Cana, have had toescape their nation in order to survive.

LORIK CANA ALBANIA

“I am an Albanian who was born in Kosovo. I left my

country when I was 8. My parents and I left everything –

my school and my family - when we moved to

Switzerland. It was a new life in a new country with new

people. It was not easy. We left Kosovo because it was

the start of the first Yugoslavian war; it was a bad time, a

very dangerous time. It was not really safe so my father

brought all our family to Switzerland and we stayed for 8-

9 years. It was a good thing because they have some

good schools but when you go as a refugee you cannot

return to your own country after. It’s not easy because

you cannot see your Grandma, Grandad and all your

cousins. So I left my country when I was 8 and I didn’t go

back to Kosovo until I was 17. I think it is an experience

that makes you stronger for your life. I think there are a

lot of people from around the world who really want to

come and live in the UK or other countries in the

European Union. Of course it’s not easy to bring

everyone to live here. There are a lot of people who

need assistance and need help because in their own

country they’ve got some problems. They try to leave

their country to have a better life. It’s not easy for them,

and we can understand that. Sometimes they do not

have a choice, they must leave their country and the

Government of this country must try to help them as

much as they can.”

Lorik has played for Paris Saint-Germaine, Marseille,

captained Sunderland AFC and now plays for Turkish

side Galatasaray. He is a regular player for the Albanian

international squad; however, he is also eligible to play

for Switzerland and France, as he has citizenship in all 3

countries.

SHEFKI KUQI KOSOVO“It would have been a very different life

for me if I had stayed in Kosovo.

People ask me about the pressure of

football, the pressure of coming to

Newcastle United. There is always

pressure, whatever job you do, but for

me, compared to what happened in

Kosovo, football pressure is like a

pleasure. When you have been

through what my family has been

through, nothing in football gets you

down. That is why I enjoy every single

minute of my football career.

Nothing that has happened in my career

has hurt me in a way some of the other

things I have had to go through in my life

have hurt me. I had friends and family

there when the war was going on. All my

family were there and my wife’s family

were there. She was there, she was in the

middle of things. In her village hundreds

of people were killed in the space of a

couple of minutes. She was in the middle

of that, all the dead bodies lying around

the place, people she knew. She had to

walk past like nothing had happened.

They were dead in the street, kids and

everything. Those things, you cannot

understand them until you have lived

through them, seen it and experienced it.

If I had still been in Kosovo I would have

been fighting, I would probably have

been in the army. That’s why I’m so lucky

to have been given this opportunity.

Without moving to Finland, I probably

wouldn’t be here now. I certainly

wouldn’t have had this opportunity to

play for Newcastle United.”

CAN YOU REMEMBER LEAVING

KOSOVO?

“Yeah very much so. I remember every

single minute of that time. When you’re

that young, you don’t really think about

politics or what’s happening or what’s

going to happen you just think “why?”

Always thinking “why did we go?” We

left everybody, family, friends and

everybody. It was very, very hard and

going to Finland – I’d never really heard

of Finland! Everything was new, new

culture, new country, everything. It

was really hard.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU

MOVED TO FINLAND?

“It was very, very hard and the first

year we didn’t do anything; we couldn’t

go to school, we couldn’t go anywhere.

Going from having all our friends, living

a great life, to having nothing.

We didn’t speak the language, didn’t

know how to communicate and

everything was so difficult. Then after

a year we started going to school and it

was hard even then. You don’t

understand a word you just sit there

and watch what they do. It was hard.

Then I started going to football training

and I remember it was very hard first of

all. They said things I didn’t understand

and sometimes they started laughing. I

remember I used to go home and say to

my Mum and Dad “Is there something

wrong with me? Why are they laughing

at me?” They said “Don’t be silly.

There’s nothing wrong with you.” But

as I’ve got older I think back and I think

it’s one world,

we’re all

human beings.

To me it

doesn’t

matter what

colour, where

you’re from,

you’ve got to

respect

people no

matter what

country

you’re from.”

12

DID YOU KNOW?

The UK is home to only 2% of the worldʼs 11 million

refugees.