Charlton Red, White, and Black (RWB) Day: Promoting Equality and Tackling Discrimination
The club and Community Trust's Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Dr Michael Seeraj updates on a week full of activities around Charlton's annual Red, White and Black Day.
Nearly 500 Charlton fans, local community groups, and local school children were joined by Charlton Athletic academy players in what proved to be the biggest turnout for a Charlton RWB Community Parade, ahead of our men's first0team game against Reading.
With the theme of promoting equality and tackling discrimination, local schools and community groups designed and made their own parade banners, which they proudly displayed along the procession route. The video of the parade can be seen below.
As part of the EFL Together Against Racism initiative and Black History Month, the week-long series of RWB activities started on Monday with a Coach Education Programme. With a theme of ‘Pioneering Black Women who have Blazed a Trail’ the event, organised in partnership with the FA, saw aspiring football coaches take part in practical learning and coach development sessions, as part of the club’s U12-U14 girls coaching, at Charlton’s training ground. The participants then joined a Q&A session with Charlton legend Paul Mortimer and Charlton Athletic Women’s General Manager Louise McGing. As the FA highlighted: “We wanted to highlight the huge achievements of black females in football."
Then on Tuesday, 60 pupils from Haimo Primary School attended The Valley for an inspiring Show Racism the Red Card Workshop. This was followed, in the evening, by an online panel discussion, with men’s first-team players Michael Hector and Terell Thomas and women’s first-team player Karin Muya joining Charlton TV’s James Sherwood for a free webinar, discussing their journeys in football, and equality within the sport.
Players from our men's and women's first-teams wore shirts promoting the message: All Different, All Together, All Charlton, ahead of their respective games at The Valley against Reading and Crystal Palace Women.
Charlton Athletic has a long, proud, and important history of promoting equality and tackling discrimination. As the club and Trust’s Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, I am passionate about building on this unique history, and opening up discussions about how we can continue to provide a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for our fans and everyone connected to the club. We want to continue to build a club culture where all relationships are characterised by understanding, dignity and respect - where everyone is treated fairly, and feels valued and part of the great ‘Charlton Family’.
I’ll leave you with the words from one of the Primary Schools Teachers whose pupils joined the parade:
“Just to say thank you. For most, it was their first time going to see a live match and they were absolutely blown away with the whole experience; from gathering for the banner parade, to being interviewed by CharltonTV, shaking hands with the mascots and of course watching the actual match. A fantastic, memory making experience."
