I'm here at the AXA Training Centre
with Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold,
and we're going to talk about the importance of Black History Month,
what it allows us to discuss and highlight in terms of the black community
not just in Liverpool but also in Britain, and the important role that sport plays
in highlighting some of the issues not only around black history
but the fight for equality that continues even today.
So, Jordan, my name is Laurence, very nice to meet you,
and Trent, good to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
I was really interested in the role you guys have played
in pushing forward the discussion about racial equality,
and I just want to know why you were so interested
that you made the commitment to highlighting these issues.
Because it's something I believe is right to do.
I think education is a big part of it, I've been in situations where I've witnessed first-hand
what it's like for my teammates and my friends to be racially abused,
which isn't very nice, so obviously it's something that I'm passionate about.
If I can try and help in any way, then I will, and that's all I've ever tried to do,
and support my teammates. Like I say we've been in some situations,
for England especially, where it hasn't been nice,
but I think we've handled those situations really well
and made huge strides forward over the last year or two.
You can see that with taking a knee before games,
I think that's had a real positive impact in keeping the conversations going,
that needs to happen.
So it's something of course that I'm passionate about.
Footballers have a role to play, we have a huge platform these days,
we're given opportunities that different generations weren't through social media
and having our own voice, putting our own words out there
and being able to speak directly to people all over the world.
There's no real limitations to who we can speak to these days.
Throughout the country it's still a huge problem, and until that's fixed
it's difficult for us to look on a bigger scale.
So I think the problem definitely starts with education,
I think that's without doubt the answer to all the problems.
If you can stop it at source, with children, who are easily influenced
and will follow what they see and what they're told is right and wrong.
Like Hendo said, with the taking a knee, I think that's more for the younger generation.
If someone's 40 years old and all they've known is racism,
it's hard to break them out of that routine of feeling that it's OK,
but if you've got a five/six-year-old seeing their idols taking the knee,
standing for what they believe in and being able to influence them at a young age,
giving them the right message that it isn't OK to be racist, everyone's equal,
everyone should be given an equal chance.
If we can get that into the next generation as soon as possible,
then hopefully the next generation is better than what it is today.
These are issues that we associate more with politics,
and that's something I'd love to hear your opinions on,
how you feel about whether or not you as sportspeople should be the role models
for highlighting these really terrible issues that affect our society.
If we're passionate about something and we feel we can have a positive effect on it,
then I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do that.
You look at people like Marcus [Rashford], who's a prime example,
what he's done over the past year or two,
Raheem [Sterling], similar,
and the positive change they've made,
so the more people that do it, the more athletes that do it,
because we've got such a big reach, with how big football is all over the world,
it can have a positive affect on the younger generation, as Trent said.
I think it's interesting as well, from the perspective of you as an ally,
you mentioned Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling,
two people who are black, you have got people who aren't black speaking out as well,
which I think is really important.
I'd like to know why, why are you so passionate about this issue?
Yeah, I think, I've got to be careful,
because I am white and people could say,
"You don't know what it feels like to be racially abused",
so I understand that, but at the same time I've got close friends
to see in what ways I can help and try and understand the history of it a lot more,
because I am white and I can reach a different audience
and make people more aware,
so that's all I try to do, and try and help as much as I can, really.
The history of this city is, it's been a diverse city for an awful long time,
but I've seen that this city also does have some issues with racism.
I'm just wondering, how has growing up in Liverpool as a black Scouser
shaped your opinion on some of the issues that you're highlighting?
Yeah, there is definitely certain areas in Liverpool that I was more tentative to go to,
I kind of knew that at a certain time of day I wouldn't really go there
because it would be dangerous for me and my brothers,
but I've been quite lucky to grow up in a good community with equality.
There wasn't many black kids artound,
but me and my brothers - and we had a few cousins that were local too -
looked out for each other.
We were never left out of stuff, we were never segregated from anyone else,
we always felt like we had equal opportunity.
The ability of you guys to transcend your sport is also really important,
because not everybody plays football.
You guys are still role models for guys who might never think about
about trying to make it to the Premier League.
It doesn't matter if you are a sportsperson or not,
you're still faced with these problems in everyday life,
it's not just because you play football you're going to be racially abused
or not given the same opportunities, it happens in every walk of life;
office jobs, getting on the bus, walking down the street,
it's relevant to every single person.
It's important not to just be stuck within the sports bubble,
because it's bigger than just sport.
We use sport - like Hendo said about taking the knee -
as a platform to transcend our sport.
So, it is difficult, but I think the last two or three years
have really highlighted the change that needs to happen.
Jordan, if you could encourage people to do anything,
not only to highlight the wrongs in our society as regards racism,
but also to address some of the issues,
what would you ask people if you could have a wishlist?
Really, from our point of view what we've tried to do is just shine a light
on how we are as a group.
You look at our dressing room, the different backgrounds and cultures,
different religions, but yet we all see each other as one.
We respect each other's cultures and we're just the same,
and I think if we can shine that light on the outside world
then the world would probably be a much better place.
Trent, Jordan's just mentioned how diversity in the dressing room
is really positive for you guys - how do you feel about that?
It's good for us, a lot of lads will try and learn certain words in different languages,
learn the way of life, the different cultures.
We have a big group of Brazilians and we all want to get to know
how they live, their backgrounds,
so everyone tries to learn off each other.
A lot of questions get asked,
people want to know why other people believe in certain things, why they don't.
I think it's really interesting as well when you speak about diversity,
I'd like to know about some of the responses you've got from fans
in relation to your activism, on the pitch and off it.
It's all been massively positive, to be honest.
That's what everyone was expecting and that's what's happened.
The whole club, everyone who's part of it, the fans -
everyone really buys into the whole ethos and mentality of what we stand for
as one big community.
It doesn't matter where you're from, football should be a place where you feel safe
and feel like you've got a family there, and I think that's what we aim to do.
Liverpool have been massively supportive of all the players,
I've spoke to Billy Hogan in depth on certain things,
especially the diversity board which the FA put in place recently.
Billy is really involved in that and likes that,
and hopefully the club will implement that over the next few years,
which is a big change as well,
so there's definitely things going on within the club as well,
not only in football, but all the way up through the club.
I'm just gonna ask a question I really want to know -
how has the gaffer been with yous over this type of stuff?
Again, massively supportive, he's probably the biggest voice within the club
to send messages to the fans, he puts the right messages out there,
which is important, and he's got a lot of people who believe in what he says,
including all of us, so the messages have to transcend from us and from him
into the wider population, and hopefully we'll have a lot of people that buy into that.
Growing up, I'm a lot older than you guys,
but a great hero for me, even though I'm not a rednose: Howie Gayle.
And I think all the stick he went through in the eighties,
and then obviously everything John Barnes went through,
how much is that an inspiration to you guys?
Living and playing at a different time,
knowing the role these indviduals played in paving the way.
Yeah, I think there's been many players in the past
where these problems were not addressed properly,
people were allowed to abuse those sorts of players
for the colour of their skin and things like that,
which is obviously completely unacceptable,
but back in those days it was seen as being somewhat acceptable
and people wouldn't address that.
But they are the ones that paved the way and had to fight through that.
Obviously incredibly tough to do so, but it's those kinds of people that inspire you
to keep going, keep working hard, and they're the ones that show it's still possible.
So, it's a powerful movement right now;
back then it wasn't, but right now it is,
and that's the change that we need, and like I said earlier,
hopefully the next generation we won't need to be having these conversations
and racism will be more of a thing of the past.
It's really important that people like yourselves,
that do have such an influence on the younger generation particularly,
really highlight the importance of addressing these issues,
so again I'd like thank you both so much
for taking some time out your day to come and talk to me.
No, no, thank you.
Thank you, cheers.