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Wilfried Zaha has called for greater efforts towards education about racial inequality and says social media companies should start cracking down on abuse after he chose not to kneel before the start of Crystal Palace’s match against West. Brom.
Since the restart of the project last summer, players, officials and staff before the start of Premier League and EFL matches have made the gesture in protest against racial discrimination.
The Black Lives Matter slogan was featured on Premier League players’ jerseys during the rebooted 2019-20 season and was changed to a patch with the words No Room For Racism in reference to the league’s own anti-racism initiative.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters has said Sky Sports News players will continue to kneel until the end of the 2020/21 campaign.
Zaha has been abused online multiple times. A 12-year-old boy was arrested last summer for racially offensive messages that were forwarded on Instagram and received education lessons after the incident.
Speaking in the Financial Times Business Summit Last month, Zaha confirmed that he would stop kneeling because the gesture was “degrading” and encouraged players to “stand tall” in defiance of racism.
In a statement, the midfielder said: “My decision to appear at the kickoff has been public knowledge for a couple of weeks.
“There is no right or wrong decision, but for me personally, I feel like kneeling has become part of the pre-match routine and right now, it doesn’t matter if we kneel or stand, some of us still We continue to receive abuse.
“I know there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes in the Premier League and other authorities to make changes, and I respect that and everyone involved.”
“I also fully respect my teammates and players from other clubs who continue to kneel.
“As a society, I think we should encourage better education in schools, and social media companies should crack down on people who abuse other people online, not just footballers.
“Now I just want to focus on football and enjoy playing on the field again. I will continue to stand tall.”
Brentford also recently decided as a club to stop kneeling before games, and forward Ivan Toney, who was abused online earlier this season, said Sky Sports News: “We are being used as puppets.”
Bournemouth and Derby County have followed their fellow championships not to participate in the anti-racist gesture.
Several professional footballers have been abused online this season. In February, Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah, Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger and Reece James, Manchester United’s Lauren James and Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe were among those abused on social media platforms.
Zaha’s teammate Patrick van Aanholt came under fire after Crystal Palace’s goalless draw with Manchester United in early March, and Instagram removed the offending user from its platform.
Following an increase in abuse levels, Instagram has said it will take tougher measures to crack down on discrimination on its platform, including by removing accounts to prevent users from sending abusive messages.
The Online Damage Bill, to be filed with the government this year, will aim to hold tech companies to higher levels of accountability with regard to online abuse and to punish organizations if they violate duty-of-duty rules. care online.
The secretary of DCMS (Department of Culture, Media, Digital Media and Sports), Oliver Dowden, has said that the government will change the law so that these companies are responsible for any malicious content.
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