'˜Third of Scots children' have experienced racism, warns charity
The charity, which delivers anti-racism education, says 37 per cent of youngsters say they have been targeted – up 19 per cent from last year.
Experiences detailed in the study included racial insults, with one child being told they should not wear a kilt because they were not white.
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Hide AdNicola Hay, the charity’s campaign manager, said Brexit and poverty were factors in the rise in incidents.
She said: “The figures sadly indicate a notable rise in young people’s experiences of racism. It’s likely that the spike in racist experiences is a result of Brexit almost legitimising racist and xenophobic views.
“In addition to this, people living on the poverty line are likely to blame migrants. However, we are losing more jobs to automation than migration.”
Ude Adigwe, regional organiser for the union GMB Scotland, who experienced racism in Scotland’s education system, said: “The irony is that, as a child growing into adolescence and then into my adult years, I have always been in love with the inclusive sentiments encapsulated by the wonderful old Scottish proverb, ‘We are all Jock Tamson’s bairns’.
“Given these depressing figures, it seems that not all bairns are welcome in the land of Jock Tamson.”