Hello Reds. It’s an honour to write to you all in this Barnsley Chronicle column on the return to matches following the international break and during what is Black History Month.
Our game against Charlton Athletic was also the EFL’s ‘Together Against Racism’ dedicated fixture.
It is an important month which I have also played a part in myself.
I was thankful to be a part of the club’s ‘Show the Racism Red Card’ event, held in association with the Barnsley FC Community Trust.
It was just great to see all those young children learning about race and discrimination and the different prejudices that people carry – what should not be tolerated at any time, what words shouldn’t be said. It was good to see these kids just learning, asking questions and just being very adaptive.
Vimal Yoganathan joined me on the panel, and we took questions from the schoolchildren.
They asked some very good questions, and we gave our testimonies to explain our experiences as players. They were inquisitive, they wanted to learn, and they want to see a change in the future for the better of our society.
At the end of the day, we all bleed the same and we all are the same people – we shouldn’t be discriminated due to the colour of our skin. Out of all the DNA sequences, that is the only one which is different. In the grand scheme of it all, we should all treat each other the same. We should be nurtured in the right environments as well as being educated on the right matters and accepting anybody for who they are in all walks of life. You just never know what people are going through and where they come from.
We should always be together as one and show racism the red card.
It has been a solid week so far, staying unbeaten since the international break. It was a good little break to just look back at what we have accomplished but also what we need to work on, how we develop an identity going forward to help us be successful.
It was beneficial to just reflect and understand that we had some time to sort stuff out and work really hard to finalise and get right some of the things that we need to work on.
Thank you for all of your support from the stands, it really does mean a lot. It’s very positive affirmation.
When you’re far away from home, you want to have some kind of resonance that people can say ‘they do care’, or ‘they do appreciate me’, ‘they like that I’m here’. It’s always good to have some positive words as well as songs and other things that make you feel celebrated, not tolerated.
See you all soon, Donny.
