Free #2Sides: My Autobiography by Rio Ferdinand Page A

minority groups all with different voices and opinions and feelings. When you talk about inclusion you have to think about girls playing football and discrimination and exclusion against gay players. It all needs to be updated and I think the FA may be in the process of trying to do that. The problem is that as an organisation it is always reactive rather than proactive.
    Some black footballers saw the Terry case as a chance to ‘make a stand’ and ‘let people know we’re not happy.’ There was talk of setting up a separate organisation, a sort of black players’ pressure group. I could see what they were getting at. But separatism of any kind just isn’t my thing. I don’t think segregation bodes well for the future. I don’t want people cutting themselves off from each other. There has to be no boundaries; you have to be inclusive of everybody. That’s the way I’ve been brought up. To me the JohnTerry and Luis Suarez cases had nothing to do with being pro black or pro white. I’m not pro black or white, or pro Jewish, or pro Muslim. I respect
everyone
, wherever they’re from, whatever their culture. I’m not saying it because I’m a black guy. I’m saying: everyone, please just respect each other! That’s all I want for my kids. I don’t think it’s a hard thing to ask for.
    John Barnes, who I respect greatly, says it’s possible for someone to make a racist remark without necessarily being 100 per cent racist. He says if someone says ‘black bastard’ it’s not absolutely conclusive. The way he sees it, it might just be the emotion of the moment and first thing that came to mind. Back in the day I would have completely disagreed with that. I would have said there were certain totally unacceptable words and if a person says them, well, that’s it: they are racist and I would write them off immediately. But John was a hero of mine when I was a kid. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he made me think. Obviously, if someone makes that mistake a couple of times, then it’s something in them. It’s not a mistake. And I really don’t understand how a person doesn’t have a switch in their body, or a light that comes on and says, ‘that one’s a no-go.’ Perhaps that person just never had discipline at home when they were growing up, or they’re just ignorant. On the other hand, if it’s just a one-off, maybe they do deserve the benefit of the doubt.
    One thing I totally agree with John Barnes about is that racism comes from sheer ignorance. I used to say that football is a great tool for making people aware of racism – but it can’t stop racism. If someone comes to the stadium and says something racist he knows he might be banned for a long time, so he’ll be quiet during that 90 minutes – and then go somewhere else and be racist. It just changes his behavior in that very small context. In other words, football’s not educating him to be a better person. That has to bepart of a wider education and social education, so we need that education in the home, and the schools and in the media.
    The only thing we wanted out of the whole John Terry affair was to get people talking about racism not in an antagonistic way but in a thoughtful way. We wanted people to understand that racism was still a problem. Everyone thought we’d dealt with it but it’s not dealt with! It’s still there! And we never attacked John Terry. We never said – and never will say – that John Terry is this or that. Never! That’s why I couldn’t understand why there was so much hatred directed at us. The media stoked up the idea of ‘us versus them’ but as a family we always said: this isn’t about Anton or about John Terry. This is about racism as a whole. It’s about the next generation. I don’t want my children or anyone else’s children to grow up thinking it’s normal to be racially abused whether they’re white, black, Indian, Asian… it doesn’t matter what race you are. That was our