“We are here today to give our children confidence that parents have their back,” said Paul, speaking outside a school in Carlisle that has become the centre of a race attack storm. “We are saying ‘don’t be afraid’. We need to nip these things in the bud now. Things are getting out of hand.”
Paul was one of about 30 black parents and supporters outside the school on Monday morning. They were angry and wanted answers after a black pupil there was subjected to abhorrent and distressing racial abuse.
The boy was filmed on Friday being abused. A video that has circulated on social media appears to shows him being taunted, pushed and punched by one white boy who makes him kiss his shoes.
The boy’s mother and supporters held a meeting with a senior teacher and school governors as the protesters waited with handmade signs that expressed their anger.
Janett Walker, the chief executive of the campaign group Anti Racist Cumbria, was at the meeting and said afterwards that it had been encouragingbut that it was early days. She said incidents like this were too often blamed on bad apples.
“It’s not just about bad apples,” she said. “We have got deep-rooted racism in society and we need to look at how we uproot that, not just keep blaming it on individuals. It is a societal problem.
“On an average week we get at least two emails from parents, schools, pupils, about racism that is happening in some shape or form. Cumbria may be a mainly white county but it is no worse or better than anywhere … racism is a problem across society.”
Some of those gathered were not parents but felt they had to show solidarity. William, a hospital worker, said: “It is bad enough that these things happen to us at work but it should not be happening to our kids. We just want a safe place for our kids. We want justice.”
Sharon and her family had moved from Manchester to Carlisle five years ago “hoping that we would be getting away from things like this. It’s a shock to the system, you don’t expect it. Carlisle is generally a nice area and everyone is friendly so when you see things like this, it shakes you.”
Sharon continued: “I’ve been here [in the UK] 18 years. It is still hard for me. I still experience racism but I know how to deal with it. This family have not experienced anything like this so it is doubly traumatic.”
Another parent, who asked not to be named, said her children had had good experiences at the school. “I was really shocked by the video. I was traumatised. I recognised where it happened and I just thought it could have been any of my sons,” she said.
A number of parents said they knew it was not an isolated incident. Paul said his son had been racially abused by a different pupil at the school. “My son had trauma. He refused to come into the school. He was scared,” he said. “My son is a black belt but we teach him to keep calm, we teach him to be tolerant, to be loving. It took me a while to bring him back.”
Cumbria police said the video that was being circulated was abhorrent and they have asked people to refrain from sharing it.
Four teenage boys have been arrested, one on suspicion of racially aggravated actual bodily harm and the other three on suspicion of abetting racially aggravated actual bodily harm. All have been bailed with conditions and investigations are continuing.
The force said: “We’d like to reassure the community we continue to take this incident extremely seriously. We understand an incident like this can be concerning for many and has caused shock to anyone viewing the images circulating online. Additional patrols have been deployed over the weekend and we will continue to engage with key community stakeholders.”
The school has been approached for comment.
Some outside the school discussed organising a march in solidarity.
Kelvin Enabulele said he had been racially assaulted in Carlisle 16 years ago, so the reports brought back grim memories. “It’s happening in schools across Cumbria and the issue is how does the school handle it? What do they do about it?” he said. “We need to see things happening.”
